Dr Daniel Beard, Founder and CSO ShearFlow

What if you could give a stroke patient more time? That is the question driving Dr Daniel Beard and the team at ShearFlow, a biotech spin-out from the University of Newcastle developed in joint venture with Harvard University. In this episode, ARCS intern Iqra sits down with Daniel to trace a career that has taken him from a fascination with the brain's blood vessels, through a PhD in stroke research, a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Oxford, and a cold call to one of Harvard's leading scientists that changed the direction of everything. Daniel is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Newcastle and the Chief Scientific Officer of ShearFlow, where his team is developing a nanoparticle therapy that selectively targets collateral blood vessels during a stroke to extend perfusion to at-risk brain tissue. The implications for rural and remote Australia, where patients can face transfers of hundreds of kilometres to reach a comprehensive stroke centre, are significant. In this conversation, Daniel reflects on the role of collaboration in research and commercialisation, the lessons he took from Oxford back to Australia, and what it actually takes to move from scientific founder to company builder. He also shares his perspective on the gap between invention and innovation, and why persistence matters more than resilience. Topics covered include stroke treatment and the tyranny of distance in Australian healthcare, nanoparticle drug delivery and shear stress-sensitive therapeutics, the University of Newcastle and Harvard University joint venture, postdoctoral research at the University of Oxford, the commercialisation journey from academic discovery to spin-out, intellectual property, tech transfer, and building a founding team, and advice for early career researchers considering the path to innovation. Cognitio is the knowledge platform of ARCS Australia, the professional organisation for people working across therapeutics, medtech, and the pharmaceutical sciences. Visit arcs.com.au to learn more about membership and upcoming programs. Guest: Dr Daniel Beard, Senior Lecturer, University of Newcastle; Founder and Chief Scientific Officer, ShearFlow Host: Iqra, ARCS Australia Intern Series: Season 2, Episode 13