The Biotech Startups Podcast 🧬 Rabia Khan - Serna Bio: Bridging Science & Tech—PhDs, MBAs, & Biotech Innovation (Part 2/4)
Apr 17, 2025
44:43
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“I wish someone had told me when I was starting my PhD to sit down and say, ‘what do I want out of this?’ and [then] write it down. Because, unlike the UK, where PhDs are three years and time bound, in Canada, they are neither time bound nor three years. And so you can meander."
In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, Rabia Khan, founder and CEO of Serna Bio, joins host Jon Chee to reflect on her unconventional journey through academia, business, and biotech innovation. Rabia shares how her curiosity, resilience, and embracing uncertainty shaped her journey through a PhD in genetics and an MBA. She discusses the emotional challenges of working with animal models, the benefits and limits of business school for scientists, and personal struggles, including her father’s illness.
She recounts early setbacks, like rejected consulting jobs, and how a cold email landed her at Meta (now part of Chan Zuckerberg Biohub). Rabia emphasizes “manufacturing serendipity,” differences between founder and employee mindsets, and lessons from her work at BenevolentAI, highlighting the importance of cross-disciplinary communication and challenging industry norms.
Key topics covered:
- PhD Realities: Tackling emotional and practical research challenges
- Dual-Degree Insights: Balancing PhD and MBA, knowing business limits
- Personal Adversity: Turning family illness into resilience
- Career Breakthroughs: Creating and seizing biotech startup chances
- Bridging Disciplines: Fusing biology and ML to expand drug targets
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Subscribe to the Podcast:
Find our guest, Rabia Khan, at these links:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rabiatkhan/
Website: https://www.serna.bio/
Find our host, Jon Chee, at these links:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonchee
Learn more about Excedr:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/excedr/
Website: https://www.excedr.com
Intro & Outro Songs Created by OkKyojin, Owned by Excedr:
Website: https://flow.page/kyojin
Resources & Articles:
Case in Point (book): https://caseinterview.com/case-in-point
SWOT Analysis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SWOT_analysis
CRISPR Technology: https://www.genome.gov/genetics-glossary/CRISPR
iPSC (Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induced_pluripotent_stem_cell
GWAS (Genome-Wide Association Studies): https://www.nature.com/articles/s43586-021-00056-9
Ensembl: https://www.ensembl.org/index.html
The concept of the “druggable genome”: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/bioinformatics/articles/10.3389/fbinf.2022.958378/full
Companies, Universities, & People mentioned:
Francis Crick Institute: https://www.crick.ac.uk/
BenevolentAI: https://www.benevolent.com/
Meta (Acquired by Chan Zuckerberg Biohub): https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/23/chan-zuckerberg-initiative-meta/
GSK (GlaxoSmithKline): https://www.gsk.com/
Thermo Fisher Scientific: https://www.thermofisher.com/
Sensyne Health: https://www.sensyne.com/
Sam Molyneux: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sammolyneux
Amy Molyneux: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amymolyneux/
Jackie Hunter: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drjackiehunter/
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
00:49 Rabia’s PhD Experience and Challenges
06:07 Comparing PhD Systems in Canada vs. UK
08:21 MBA Insights and Frameworks
14:28 Personal Adversity and Career Impact
17:05 Coping with Family Illness and Career Decisions
21:26 First Job at Meta and Serendipity
30:00 Postdoc at Francis Crick Institute
35:10 Joining BenevolentAI and Early Experiences
39:24 Challenges in Drug Discovery and Druggable Genome
43:41 Outro
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.