Ex-Amazon Dan Davidi on Replacing Fuel with His Company Ohr, Literally Reinventing Rocket Science, and Whether Synthetic Biology is Playing God

On this episode of Invested, Michael hosts Dan Davidi, a distinguished scientist and entrepreneur known for his groundbreaking work in computational and synthetic biology. Davidi earned his Ph.D. from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, where he developed expertise in systems biology and metabolism. Following his doctoral studies, he served as a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School and then joined as faculty to establish the Synthetic Biology Center, advancing research at the intersection of biology and technology. After Harvard, Dan worked as a strategy and design lead at the Amazon Moonshot Factory, where he applied his scientific insights to real-world challenges. Dan currently serves on the steering committee of the National Israeli Synthetic Biology program.

In 2023, he joined Aleph, a venture capital fund, as an Entrepreneur in Residence, focusing on the convergence of artificial intelligence, synthetic biology, and physical sciences to address pressing global issues like climate change and manufacturing security. Dan is currently the Founder and CEO of OHR, a company which uses primordial chemistry and synthetic biology to fashion rocket fuel and other strategic chemicals.

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KEY TOPICS 

• [00:00:00] Intro
• [00:02:10] - How Dan became the EIR at Aleph
• [00:05:10] - Harvard vs. Weizmann
• [00:09:20] - What is Synthetic Biology?
• [00:13:25] - Core Values
• [00:14:20] - Returning to Israel and the Experience of an EIR
• [00:18:30] - Dan’s Company: OHR
• [00:25:00] - Reverse Engineering Chemistry, or Anti-Darwinism?
• [00:28:30] - Israel Needs to Learn How to Scale
• [00:34:30] - Research Happens Outside of Academia Nowadays
• [00:38:50] - Making Israel the Silicon Valley of Biotech
• [00:40:23] - What’s the Next Big Area For Scientific Development?
• [00:43:47] - How is Science Improved by AI?
• [00:46:00] - Trusting Data to Accelerate Life Science Development
• [00:50:45] - Why Do Some Ideas Fail as an Entrepreneur?
• [00:54:00] - What Should Students Study?
• [00:58:30] - Closing Questions 

RESOURCES

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CREDITS

Executive Producer: Erica Marom 

Producer: Yoni Mayer

Video and Editing: Ron Baranov

Music and Art: Uri Ar 

Content and Editorial: Kira Goldring

Design: Rony Karadi