The Chain: Protein Engineering Podcast

Dan Chen returns for the Science Commune segment and speaks with Dr. Peter Marks, Director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER). Dr. Marks reflects on his fortuitous path from academia to industry to government, plus the differences between each area. Dr. Marks explains the research and regulatory role of CBER, especially as it pertains to the latest cell therapies. And finally, the two discuss the impressive speed of COVID-19 vaccine science breakthroughs and regulatory approval. 

Christian Klein is a longtime and key member of the protein and antibody community. In this episode, he speaks with Executive Conference Producer, Christina Lingham, on how the field has changed since their first collaboration. Dr. Klein offers an overview of the latest applications of bispecific antibodies, including the latest progress of clinical trials by Roche and others. He also explains how the PD1-X molecule is unique and can increase specificity of therapeutics even more. 

There are no bad ideas in developing bioanalytical testing, says Jim McNally, CSO of BioAgilytix. Not all ideas will work, of course. But he has found that it is the outside-the-box ideas that often turn out to be the solution in challenging assay work. Dr. McNally speaks with The Chain about his background in bioanalytical testing and supporting clinical trials, the exciting future of cell and gene therapies, and the importance of setting precedent in bioanalysis of these new, life-saving therapies. It is an exciting time for gene therapy especially, and Dr. McNally shares how new immunogenicity data is getting us closer to bringing this therapy to more people. 

There are some proteins that still evade scientists in the race for better therapeutics. Some of the most elusive drug targets in cancer research are RAS oncoproteins. In a paper published this July, researchers demonstrated the delivery of an extremely potent pan-RAS-cleaving enzyme, opening the door for the first targeted pan-RAS inhibitor for cancer therapy. In this episode we speak with two of the researchers from this project, a cancer biologist and a protein engineer, to learn what sparked their collaboration and what their system means for the future of cancer biologics. 

Carolyn Bertozzi grew up in a science family with a physicist father. But it was organic chemistry that “clicked” for Carolyn and started her down the path of understanding biology at a molecular level. Daniel Chen and Carolyn Bertozzi discuss her work in glycobiology. Bertozzi’s research finds that glycosylation has consequences in immune modulation, and that glycobiology plays an important role in human disease that has historically been underexploited in drug development. Finally, Chen and Bertozzi talk about gender representation in science and the importance of female role models for both women and men.

What was science like before the shift to big data technology? How did biologists learn about cells before we could do high throughput gene analysis? What we can learn about how to problem solve from those who helped get us to where we are today? In this Science Commune episode, Dr. Rik Derynck helps us answer those questions by sharing his stories as a young scientist in the “primitive” early days of cell biology. Derynck talks about his work on TGF-β and how his early pursuit of the unknown helped inspire new methodologies for problem solving that carry into his work today. Derynck looks towards the future of the field as biologists gain understanding of TGF-β’s role in cancer immunology and immunotherapy. 

In this Science Commune segment, Dr. Daniel Chen and Dr. Pablo Umaña discuss what it means to be both a scientist and an engineer while utilizing principles from both disciplines to solve problems and advance innovation. 

Dr. David Wood is working on novel technology with self-cleaving tags, but he knows the importance of failure in the grand scheme of success, as well as mentorship, making your own way, and going your own speed.  

Sara Mangsbo is Entrepreneur of the Year, but her journey to success is much more than one title or one year. She shares the process and her biggest takeaways of building a company that is developing novel immunotherapies to fight cancer.  

In the fight against Coronavirus, there have been many calls for widespread testing. Dr. Nathan Ledeboer explains the power diagnostic testing has when combatting a pandemic, and the importance for collaboration in innovation during this time.