The SynBioBeta Podcast
by John Cumbers
Welcome to The SynBioBeta Podcast: Conversations with synthetic biology’s leading thinkers on building a better world with biology. Hosted by John Cumbers, founder and CEO of SynBioBeta, where tech meets bio and bio meets tech. Stay updated on the latest news in synthetic biology, check out our weekly newsletter and follow us on social media: Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook
Episodes
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From Microbes to Materials—ZymoChem's Vision for a Plastic-Free FutureZymoChem's Vision for a Plastic-Free Future
In this episode of the Podcast, SynBioBeta founder and CEO, John Cumbers, speaks with Harshal Chokhawala, co-founder and CEO of ZymoChem, about how the company is reengineering the foundations of materials science using microbial fermentation. Harshal discusses his scientific journey from organic...
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Fermenting the Future While Making Biomanufacturing Nimble - with Shannon Hall
In this episode of the SynBioBeta Podcast, John Cumbers sits down with Shannon Hall, co-founder and CEO of Pow.bio, to talk about how her team is flipping traditional fermentation on its head. Pow.bio’s AI-enabled, continuous fermentation platform decouples cell growth from production—enabling...
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Scaling New Heights in Biomanufacturing - with Edward Shenderovich
On this SynBioBeta podcast, John Cumbers talks with Edward Shenderovich, the Founder and CEO of Synonym, a company creating bioeconomy infrastructure to help next-generation bioproducts scale and get to market. Edward will speak at this year’s SynBioBeta conference on “Scaling Biological…
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Mycelium Magic: Crafting a Greener Future - with Eben Bayer
On this SynBioBeta podcast, John Cumbers talks with Eben Bayer, the CEO of Ecovative, a pioneering company at the forefront of developing sustainable materials using mycelium. John and Eben will discuss Ecovative’s journey toward creating a billion pounds of mycelium, explore some of the...
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AI in Action: Synthesizing the Future of Drug Discovery - with Sean McClain
On this SynBioBeta podcast, John Cumbers talks with Sean McClain, founder, and CEO of Absci, a generative AI drug creation company on a mission to create better drugs for patients faster. Sean and John will continue some of the discussion that we started on the SynBioBeta stage around generative…
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Venture Visions: Investing in the Future of Synthetic Biology - with Ursheet Parikh
Today, John Cumbers talks with Ursheet Parikh, a general partner at Mayfield Fund, an early-stage, global venture capital firm with a people-first philosophy and a 50-plus-year history of investing and partnering with founders. John and Ursheet will discuss the state of the synthetic biology…
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Making Data and Computation Accessible to Scientists - with Kyle Giffin
Today John Cumbers talks with Kyle Giffin, Co-Founder and COO of Latch Bio, the San Francisco-based company that is looking to harmonize data analysis through the application of its integrated bioinformatics platform. Over 50 leading biotechs in drug discovery, therapeutics, agriculture, and...
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Faster, Better, and Cheaper: The Elusive DNA Triad Now a Reality - with Mike Kamdar & Phil Paik
In this episode, John Cumbers chats with Michael Kamdar, President & CEO and Phil Paik, CTO, both of whom are at Molecular Assemblies—a San Diego-based life sciences company developing an enzymatic DNA synthesis technology designed to power the next generation of DNA-based products. The trio will...
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Empowering Cell & Gene Manufaturing Using Computational Solutions - with Claire Aldridge
Today John Cumbers talks with Claire Aldridge, Chief Strategy Officer at FormBio. Together they will discuss Form Bio, the spin-out from Colossal Laboratories & Biosciences, cell and gene therapies, why they are so difficult to manufacture, and the regulatory environment for these technologies....
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From Ideas to Reality: Synthetic Biology Comes of Age - with Jason Kelly
Today John Cumbers talks with Jason Kelly, Co-founder and CEO of Ginkgo Bioworks. Together they will discuss synthetic biology’s coming of age” and get Jason’s take on several topics, such as the history of programmable biology, Sam Altman, Ai and the role of AI in biology, and the new...
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What Will Our Technology Future Look Like? Star Trek vs Star Wars - with Matt Ocko
Today John Cumbers talks with Matt Ocko, co-founder and co-Managing Partner of the silicon valley deep tech venture fund DCVC. The topics for today are the different visions of the Star Trek and Star Wars future economies, the utopic versus the dystopic; how he evaluates a company in the context…
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How nature co-design is changing the narrative - with Massimo Portincaso
Today John Cumbers talks with Massimo Portincaso, managing director and partner at BCG. John will be talking to Massimo about what nature co-design, how we're shifting from global supply chains to global value chains, what distributed biological manufacturing is, and more.. Massimo Portincaso...
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Where brands and biology meet - with Karl Schmieder
Today John Cumbers talks with Karl Schmieder the founder of messagingLAB, a strategy and consulting firm that helps biotechnology and synthetic biology companies create and execute strategies to drive the industry forward. Connect with Karl: @karlschmieder Connect with John: @johncumbers Stay...
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Does eating animals cause pandemics? - with Ryan Bethencourt of Wild Earth
Today John Cumbers talks with Ryan Bethencourt, founder and CEO of Wild Earth. John will be talking to Ryan about the state of COVID and questions like "Does eating animals cause pandemics?" Recorded live on: March 15th, 2020 To watch the video component:...
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How DNA synthesis is powering the fourth manufacturing revolution - with Emily Leproust
Today John Cumbers talks with Emily Leproust, Entrepreneur and CEO of Twist Bioscience. John will be talking to Emily about why she founded Twist, the many industries that will be disrupted by DNA technology, and how Twist is building a company culture for growth diversity and excellence. Emily…
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How protein engineering is the killer app for biology - with John Nichols
Today John Cumbers talks with John Nicols, President and CEO of Codexis, a leading protein engineering company here in Silicon Valley. I’ll be talking with John about “How protein engineering is the killer app for biology.” Specifically, I’ll talk with John about the amazing pedigree and origins…
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How an artist becomes an investor and advisor to the world’s greatest technology companies - with D.A. Wallach
Today John Cumbers talks with D.A. Wallach, recording artist and emerging tech investor. John will be talking to D.A. about his journey from performing artist to investor in emerging tech, how his unique background informs his investment thesis, and what opportunities he’s most excited about in...
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How this household name is beating climate change — and making great products - with Tom Dierking of P&G
Today John Cumbers talks with Tom Dierking, design director of transformational platform technologies at Procter & Gamble. John will be talking to Tom about his passion for transforming the consumer experience, Procter & Gamble’s revolutionary line of water-free products, and where he sees...
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The Mycelium Revolution: How a mushroom can make food, plastic, and more - with Eben Bayer of Ecovative
For the pictures John and Eben reference check out our website article (https://synbiobeta.com/synbiobeta-podcast-the-mycelium-revolution/) Today John Cumbers talks with Eben Bayer, CEO and Co-Founder of the biomaterials company Ecovative. He’ll be talking with Eben about: Why mycelium is an…
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How to spot a synthetic biology unicorn - with Ali Tamaseb of DCVC
Today John Cumbers talks with Ali Tamaseb, an investor at the venture firm DCVC. John will be talking to Ali about his technical strategy for finding super-founders, emerging challenges for founders, particularly in synthetic biology, and what emerging market he is most excited about these days....
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Building India's synthetic biology industry - with Santanu Dasgupta of RIL
Today John Cumbers talks with Dr. Santanu Dasgupta, Senior Vice President and Head of Biology at Reliance Industries Limited. John will be talking to Santanu about why algae is a great engineering platform, Reliance’s role in India’s arts, culture, and urban renewal, and the challenges to…
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The role of creativity and design in biotechnology - with Christina Agapakis of Ginkgo Bioworks
Today John Cumbers talks to Dr. Christina Agapakis, biologist, writer, artist, and Creative Director at Ginkgo Bioworks. John will be talking to Christina about the role of creativity and design in biotechnology, what are Ginkgo’s top aims in terms of technology and its culture, and what kinds of...
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Investing at the frontiers of life science innovation - with Jenny Rooke of Genoa Ventures
Today John Cumbers talks to Dr. Jenny Rooke, the founder and Managing Director of Genoa Ventures, and one of Silicon Valley’s leading venture capitalists in the synthetic biology industry. John will be talking to Jenny about how VCs assess the value and potential of firms, what it takes to start...
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Synthetic biology investing in an age of open platforms - with Ursheet Parikh of Mayfield
Today John Cumbers talks to Ursheet Parikh, partner at Mayfield and leader of their biotechnology and health care portfolios. The conversation is about what it takes to scale synthetic biology companies, some of the challenges they face, and how platform technologies in synthetic biology can help...
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Protein design 101 for synthetic biology - with Alexandre Zhanghellini of Arzeda
Today John Cumbers talks to Alexandre Zanghellini, co-founder and CEO of Arzeda about Protein Design 101. Alex leads Arzeda’s product and technology development and IP strategy. He’s an inventor of Arzeda’s platform for computational protein design and more recently also branched into…
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How to tell your synthetic biology story - with Ben Kellogg of BWK
John Cumbers talks to Ben Kellogg about telling a compelling synthetic biology story. Ben is the founder of BWK, an award-winning PR consulting firm representing clients like TED, MIT, Modern Meadow and Culture Biosciences. As the PR partner to TED’s Fellowship program, BWK works directly with…
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Welcome to the SynBioBeta Podcast!
The SynBioBeta Podcast is here! Subscribe now. Episode 1 debuts July 10th. Conversations with synthetic biology’s leading thinkers on building a better world with biology. The podcast is hosted by John Cumbers, founder and CEO of SynBioBeta, where tech meets bio and bio meets tech. Stay updated…
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About this show
Welcome to The SynBioBeta Podcast: Conversations with synthetic biology’s leading thinkers on building a better world with biology. Hosted by John Cumbers, founder and CEO of SynBioBeta, where tech meets bio and bio meets tech.
Stay updated on the latest news in synthetic biology, check out our weekly newsletter and follow us on social media:
Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook
Hosted by
John Cumbers