⁠Blackjack, Biosecurity and Big Bets | Alexander Titus, National Biotech Commissioner

Time Stamps

[00:00] Titus’s ethos of doing hard things with good people

[00:43] Introduction to the Nucleate Podcast and Alexander Titus

[01:22] Titus discusses his post-college pivot and solo travel through Central America 

[04:47] How travel philosophy maps to Titus’s career 

[05:56] Titus discusses his experience living in a casino and learning risk management via blackjack

[12:39] Resilience and irreversible mistakes 

[17:12] Titus discusses his non-linear career path 

[20:57] Tackling hard problems: humility, small wins and amplifying others 

[27:05] National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology (NSCEB) & $15B roadmap

[30:53] Balancing policy and industry roles

[34:42] The under-invested pillar of bio-literacy

[37:50] Sci-fi novel Synthetic Eden and using fiction as a bio-ethics tool

[46:36] AI, biotech risk and data-driven governance 

[49:04] Titus’s insights into AI in therapeutics, especially its current reality versus hype 

[59:39] Rapid-fire Q&A: name, favorite places, book recommendations