Life Sciences DNA Podcast

Biopharma Companies Wrestle with an Outsized Demand for AI Talent

The increasing demand for AI talent in the life sciences industry is presenting a challenge for biopharma HR departments. Companies must compete for skilled workers not only against their competitors but also against tech firms that often offer more attractive compensation packages. Steve Swan, CEO of The Swan Group, sat down with Amar Drawid to discuss the current recruitment landscape for AI talent in the life sciences sector, the challenges companies are encountering, and why the mission of drug developers might give them a competitive advantage over tech companies in appealing to certain candidates.

Using AI and Synthetic Biology to Go Where Antibody Therapies Can’t

Monoclonal antibodies have been an important addition to the biomedical arsenal, but these therapies have limited ability to target a group of cell surface receptors known as GPCRs. Aikium is developing a new class of therapies known as SeqR proteins that offer an alternative to antibody-based drugs and can bind to intrinsically disordered regions of targeted GPCRs that were previously considered undruggable. Venkatesh Mysore, co-founder and CTO of Aikium, sits down with Amar Drawid to discuss how the company is using AI and synthetic biology to discover SeqR protein therapeutics to treat cancer, auto-immune diseases, and neuro-inflammatory disorders.

Unlocking Market Access with AI

Rick Lloyd, founder and senior healthcare advisor of Range Health Advisors, sits down with Amar Drawid to discuss the intricacies of market access in the pharmaceutical industry, the importance of data analytics and AI in navigating the complexities of pricing and reimbursement, and how real-world evidence may help address the challenges faced by patients and healthcare providers in accessing medications.

Ensuring Successful Implementation of AI

Anastasia Christianson, AI and data analytics senior consultant and strategic advisor to life sciences and healthcare companies, sits down with Amar Drawid to discuss the integration of AI in the pharmaceutical industry, the importance of organizational models, and why its important for teams across an organization to co-create rather than to work in isolation.

Tackling the New Bottleneck of Drug Discovery

Markus Gershater, chief scientific officer and co-founder of Synthace sits down with Amar Drawid to discuss Synthace’s AI-based platform that enables drug developers to design complex experiments, run them, and capture and analyze the data all in an automated way.

Swimming in the Deep End of AI

Brendan Frey, founder and chief innovation officer of Deep Genomics, sits down with Amar Drawid to discuss how the company is using deep learning to leverage massive RNA biology datasets to drive the development of new therapies.  

Using AI to Make Biology Easier to Engineer

Ankit Gupta, the head of AI and Senior Director of Machine Learning Research for Ginkgo Bioworks sits down with Amar Drawid to discuss bioengineering beyond healthcare, how the company is using generative AI and large language models to accelerate bioengineering, it expects this to revolutionize the field.

How AI ls Reshaping the Future of Healthcare

Subodha Kumar, professor of statistics, operations, and data science and the founding director of the Center for Business Analytics and Disruptive Technologies at Temple University’s Fox School of Business, sits down with Amar Drawid to discuss how AI will improve operational efficiency in healthcare, enable mass customization for patients, and free providers up to focus on high-value decision making.