Ep 17. Jessica Chiang: Chief Scientific Officer on Science for the Environment and Entrepreneurship

Timestamps 00:02:00 Growing up in Taiwan 00:15:52 Moving to and studying in New Zealand 00:32:51 Biotechnology 00:51:04 Getting into entrepreneurship 01:20:59 Becoming the CFO of BioFab 01:41:16 Segment: Everything is Identified 01:48:52 Contact info: 01:54:00 Segment: Atomic Hypothesis Links https://www.linkedin.com/in/jesschiang/ https://www.biofab.bio/ Jessica Chiang is the Chief Scientific Officer at BioFab, a NZ startup working towards replacing plastic packaging with packages made out of mycelium. As the CSO of the company, she is conducting the research as part of her PhD programme at the University of Auckland. Jess has a proactive entrepreneurship mindset and this was already showing as an undergraduate student. In her third year of studying Biotechnology at the university, she formed what became the first team to enter the International Genetic Engineering Machine competition, researching enzymes that can degrade plastic. She also had an idea for a 3D printing material out of fungi to replace Styrofoam packaging. This idea won her the Velocity Innovation Challenge and the top prize at the Gap Summit in Washington DC. For Jess, It was always about making a positive impact on the environment using science. Following her Masters, she wanted to investigate an idea replacing plastic packaging material with fungal mycelium. Coincidentally around the same time, she came across BioFab that had a similar vision as her. She got in contact with the founders eventually became the CSO of the company.  In this episode, Jess and I talk about not fitting in the academic settings in Taiwan, growing up loving the nature, moving to New Zealand, getting into entrepreneurship, and her passion for conducting scientific research for the environment.  Please consider subscribing to my podcast  if you enjoy long-form podcasts with fascinating guests. I am on several platforms including Spotify and Apple Podcasts. You can review the podcast up to 5 stars on many podcast platforms including Spotify and Apple Podcasts and if you have any feedback please leave a comment under my videos on my YouTube channel.