Beyond Biotech podcast 43

2:13  Labiotech news
5:17  bit.bio

This week’s podcast is sponsored by Scientist.com.

The mainstream news in the past couple of months has picked up on artificial intelligence (AI). Not so much its uses, more the potential for conflict and fears over AI developing too quickly, or ‘taking over humanity.’

Debates have sprung up around deepfakes, ChatGPT, and other AI technologies, and there are concerns over how new technology will impact our everyday lives. The debate covers ethics, regulations, law, education; in fact AI and the future seem intertwined. 

AI has been around for some time, it’s just increased sophistication has brought it more into the spotlight. There are many positives to AI, not least in the life sciences. We now have the potential to analyze far more data, and there is real potential for identification of new drugs and drug targets being found through new technology. Of course, AI has other applications in science, such as climate change and sustainability, and in food technology.  

AI and machine learning were just some of the topics Labiotech discussed with Mark Kotter, CEO of U.K. biotech bit.bio.

bit.bio is a synthetic biology company providing human cells for research, drug discovery and cell therapy. The company applies a patented safe harbor gene-targeting approach to inducibly express transcription factor combinations that reprogram human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) into highly defined and mature human cell types. 

The company is currently building a clinical pipeline and marketing a range of cells and disease models for research and drug discovery under its ioCells brand. This includes nerve cells, immune cells and muscle cells. 

The company was spun out of the University of Cambridge in 2016, and has since raised $150 million capital from Arch Ventures, Foresite Capital, Milky Way, Charles River Laboratories, National Resilience, Tencent, and Puhua Capital among others.