To be bio-orthogonal means you're in a completely different plane from biology. So we invented this type of chemistry that takes place regardless of all the biology surrounding it. Totally ignores the biology and it has a life of its own. It's turned out to be really useful for a lot of other applications in biology and also as a way to do medicine in a different way.
Kara interviews Dr. Carolyn Bertozzi, a Stanford University scientist who, along with Morten Meldal and K. Barry Sharpless, won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry earlier this year for developing bioorthogonal chemistry and click chemistry. Bertozzi explains what bioorthogonal chemistry actually is before breaking down how identifying different sugars in the body — which she calls “the dark matter of biology’’ — could lead to breakthroughs in treating diseases ranging from the flu to cancer. She also weighs in on the state of funding in biology, Twitter, being lesbian in STEM, and the never-ending feud between chemists and biologists.
Before the interview, Kara and Nayeema briefly discuss former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan's protest march (which was called off after this episode was recorded) and Trump's dinner with white supremacist Nick Fuentes.
You can find Kara and Nayeema on Twitter @karaswisher and @nayeema.
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