🧬 Jeff Kim - Slingshot Biosciences - Part 1 | Parental Freedom, Curiosity, & Self-Teaching | Music Accentuating a Passion for Science | The Benefits of Graduate Responsibilities as an Undergrad | Finding Fit & Balancing Research & the Arts

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Part 1 of 3.

My guest for this week’s episode is Jeff Kim, co-founder and CEO of Slingshot Biosciences. Slingshot designs and manufactures synthetic cells for R&D, clinical diagnostics, and engineered cell therapies, aiming to overcome supply chain and cost barriers that restrict access to advanced diagnostics and therapeutics. Jeff is a serial entrepreneur, having co-founded and run multiple successful companies, including Radiant Genomics, which was eventually acquired by Zymergen, and Pattern Ag, a company mapping soil microbes to help farmers grow their bottom line. Before Radiant, Jeff was a scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and was the project lead for jet fuel development at Amyris Biotechnologies.

Join us as we sit down with Jeff as he discusses his upbringing as the child of Korean immigrants, and how their hands-off approach fostered his curiosity and self-teaching mentality that led to his current path. Jeff talks about how he pivoted from pre-med, instead choosing to attend Rockefeller University where he had great opportunities and experiences as an undergrad. He also discusses his involvement in the thriving artist community in New York City while at university, and the role that music and art played in balancing his research pursuits. Please enjoy my conversation with Jeff Kim.

Find Our Guest, Jeff Kim, at these links:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimjeff/
https://slingshotbio.com/

Find Our Host, Jon Chee, at these links:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonchee
https://www.excedr.com

Timestamps:
0:28 Intro
2:00 Episode starts, early days and upbringing, Korean immigrant parents teaching self-learning and curiosity
4:14 Music passion blooms and how it has helped in adult life, undergrad, and pre-med direction
7:41 Pivoting from med school to work in a lab in New York while pursuing music, Jeff’s independent research opportunity
10:28 Excellent undergraduate lab experiences, the ability to learn and explore like a grad student
12:50 RA opportunity at Rockefeller in New York, unstructured science experiences at Princeton
15:50 Natural progression to grad work and a Ph.D., his parents’ perspective on educational freedom
18:26 Determining med school wasn’t a fit, GRE, the last-minute decision between Rockefeller and UCSF
20:55 Joining Sean Brady’s lab, studying genes and DNA, experience as part of a startup lab
24:56 Finding a balance between non-profit passion for music and the grueling demand of grad research
27:33 Outro

Social & Website
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Podcast Website: https://www.thebiotechstartupspodcast.com/

Enriched Notes:

Topics Mentioned:
An Equipment Leasing Program for Scientists & Researchers https://www.excedr.com/leasing
Common Lab Equipment https://www.excedr.com/blog/common-lab-equipment
Types of Equipment Leases https://www.excedr.com/blog/types-of-equipment-leases
Purchasing Used Lab Equipment https://www.excedr.com/blog/used-lab-equipment-equipnet
How to Apply for an Equipment Lease https://www.excedr.com/blog/how-to-apply-for-an-equipment-lease
How to Start a Lab in 2024 https://www.excedr.com/blog/how-to-start-a-lab
Biotech Startup Support https://www.excedr.com/resources-category/biotech-startup-support
Guide to Reducing Startup Costs & Expenses https://www.excedr.com/blog/startup-costs-and-expenses
Delivery Methods to Maximize Genome https://www.excedr.com/resources/crispr-delivery-methods
Overview of Recombinase https://www.excedr.com/resources/recombinase-overview
What Is DNA Methylation? https://www.excedr.com/resources/what-is-dna-methylation
DNA Modification: Processes, Significance, & Implications https://www.excedr.com/resources/dna-modification-explained

People Mentioned:
Tarun Kapoor https://www.rockefeller.edu/our-scientists/heads-of-laboratories/1187-tarun-kapoor/
Alison Gammie https://www.linkedin.com/in/alison-gammie-45072811/
George McLendon https://www.linkedin.com/in/george-mclendon-899a81150/
Brian Shoichet https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-shoichet-0024061/
Andrej Sali https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrej-sali-113470273/
Sean Brady https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-brady-4b365823a/ 

The Biotech Startups Podcast gives you a front-row seat to the business and science of building a biotech. Hosted by Jon Chee, CEO of Excedr, the show features honest conversations with founders, execs, and investors about their work, their companies, and how they got there. From scientific breakthroughs to startup lessons, each episode explores what it really takes to grow a life science company—from pre-seed to IPO.