Pint of bit.bio: A Pint of Science mini-series. Episode 1: Coding cells with Dr Mark Kotter

Welcome to the first episode of a very exciting three-part mini series of the Pint of Science podcast, in collaboration with bit.bio, the cell coding company.

The series kicks off with Dr Mark Kotter, founder and CEO of bit.bio. Mark is an academic neurosurgeon and scientist at the University of Cambridge, or more accurately these days, a bio engineer. His research specialises in quite literally reprogramming cells and coding them to perform certain activities, by activating certain combinations of genes to switch them from one identity to another.

Mark and the bit.bio team are working to harness the power of stem cells and turn them into medicines by looking at biology in a different way – treating cells like a piece of software. They have developed a unique control system called opti-ox™, that allows them to jumpstart the potential 'programs' within a cell which tell it how to behave (and what kind of cell to be) very effectively.

Traditionally this has been a slow and small-scale process, but bit.bio's technology allows the production of these cells in quantities large enough that it could revolutionise medical treatments for everything from cancer to spinal and brain injuries.

You can find Mark on Twitter @MarkKotter Interested in precise reprogramming of cells? See the video of bit.bio’s opti-ox™ technology reprogramming stem cells into functional skeletal muscle: https://bit.bio/#opti-ox-technology.

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The Pint of Science podcast is a part of the Pint of Science Festival, the world's largest science communication festival. Thousands of guests and speakers descend on pubs in hundreds of cities worldwide to introduce science in a fun, engaging, and usually pint-fuelled way.

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