Dr. Polen Koçak: Harvard to Ulta Beauty - Exosomes, $5M, and the Pregnancy She Hid

How does a Turkish molecular geneticist send 3,000 cold emails to Harvard, land three internships, and then put her exosome biotech on Ulta Beauty shelves across the United States? Dr. Polen Koçak shares the unfiltered story.In Episode 1 of Fearless Leaders in HealthTech, host Dr. Şevval Karadağ sits down with Dr. Polen Koçak, molecular geneticist, Harvard Medical School alum, CEO and co-founder of Cellestetix Biotechnology, co-founder of SickScience Labs, and mother of a two-year-old. Polen holds the first international patent filed from Turkey for a plant-derived nanovesicle, originally developed for lung cancer therapy.This 40-minute conversation goes places most founder interviews don't:• How 3,000 cold emails to Harvard principal investigators turned into Polen's first research internship• Why she and her co-founder Merve pivoted exosome science from cancer research into clinically-driven skincare• What it actually takes to raise $5M in biotech as a first-time Turkish female founder (led by Pragma Capital Partners, with Arya Ventures, Maxis, APY Ventures, İstCapital, and angels)• How SickScience Labs became the first Turkish-founded biotech skincare brand on Ulta Beauty shelves in the US• Why she hid her pregnancy from investors for nine months and boarded a flight to the US with a breast pump three weeks after giving birth• How her team uses AI "like a Google Map, not a Google Search" to narrow thousands of plant exosome candidates before touching the wet lab• Her honest take on the longevity hype, AlphaFold, and what's coming next in molecular geneticsWhether you are a scientist, a founder, a woman navigating ambition, a beauty-industry insider, or simply curious about how frontier biotech gets turned into a consumer product this conversation will change the way you think about what's possible from Turkey, from women in STEM, and from a single cold email.ABOUT THE GUESTDr. Polen Koçak is a molecular geneticist with a PhD in Biotechnology from Yeditepe University in Istanbul and research experience at the Biomaterials Innovation Research Center (BIRC), Brigham & Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School. She is the CEO and co-founder of Cellestetix Biotechnology and co-founder of SickScience Labs, an exosome-driven biotech skincare brand now sold through Ulta Beauty, Amazon, and sicksciencelabs.com. Her research spans plant-derived exosomes, cancer drug delivery, wound healing, regenerative medicine, and AI-assisted personalized cosmetics.Follow Polen: Instagram @drpolenkocak · LinkedIn /https://www.linkedin.com/in/polen-ko%C3%A7ak-73526b5b/ABOUT THE HOSTDr. Şevval Karadağ is a medical doctor, healthtech entrepreneur, co-founder of VivaSmartCare, and founding president of the Medipreneurs Association, an ecosystem for Turkish healthtech founders. Fearless Leaders in HealthTech is her podcast and Substack, featuring unfiltered conversations with the founders, scientists, and investors building the future of healthcare.Follow the show: Instagram @drsevvalkaradag · Substack fearlessleaders.substack.comNew episodes every month.Unfiltered. Unafraid. Unstoppable.