science policy

Happy summertime! We had positive news this month about an mRNA vaccine from Moderna. We also saw how during a pandemic, the process of science is especially abnormal. Nathan says let's be happy about the good news. Laura's ringing with alarm bells, sensing conflicts of interest right and left.

It's Nathan's alarm bells that go off when we consider an OpEd from the president of Notre Dame University making the argument for opening up in the fall--that science alone cannot provide the answer. Nathan says it's just self serving, tired, old science bashing from the religious. Theral defends the argument, and Laura comes down somewhere in between.

None disagree with the Lancet's lambasting of the Trump Administration, a rare piece by a scientific journal.

We finish up with some work by Nathan and his colleagues looking for genetic targets for COVID. Could there even be something for DTC testing related to COVID-19? Nathan also shares how the virus has gotten personal for him and reminds us that the numbers we see each day are persons, people's loved ones.

Take care everyone. Our review show is off for the summer break.

Guest: Una Ryan, PhD, Chair, Bay Area BioEconomy Initiative

Chapters: (Advance the marker)

1:43 Returning to childhood mission

9:14 Improving the image of big pharma

10:54 Goals of Bay Area BioEconomy Initiative

21:50 Investing in women led companies

24:59 You need at least two women on the board

27:14 Honored by the Queen of England

When we first saw Una Ryan on an investor panel at last year's SynBioBeta, she immediately won us over with her unpretentious, even childlike simplicity combined with a powerful ease developed from years of experience. This life science superstar has done it all, from being researcher chipping away at tenure, to founding companies, to sitting on many organizational boards, including chair of MassBio for a decade.

In today's interview Una (pronounced Yu-na) talks about returning to the dream of her five year old self. As a girl in London she was inspired to a kind of "missionary zeal" by a television program about a man with leprosy. At that moment she decided that she wanted to cure the world of "these dread diseases."

After moving to San Francisco a year ago, Una has led the formation of the Bay Area BioEconomy Initiative (BAB), a non-profit with the aim of bringing together the life science crowd. The goal of BAB is now threefold: first, to create a single IRB that various institutions can adopt to speed up the process of clinical trials; second, to bring researchers and entrepreneurs together with experienced industry leaders; and third to focus on what happens to the startup after graduation from the incubator.

"I'm not a big believer in the fish model where you throw a lot of eggs in the sea and one or two survive," she says, likening the care of startups to natural reproduction. "I like the mammal model where you nurture people to adulthood."

As an investor, Una is keen on synthetic biology. The challenge with this sector is to come up with products that are useful to people, she says.

"I think the public doesn't want to hear about all the clever technology. They want to know what's useful, friendly, and cheap that they can use."

The conversation can go anywhere with Una, as she draws on such breadth of experience. We keep this interview under thirty minutes, but look forward to having her back to the program for more.

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