Unveiling the Unexpected: A Journey into Science with the Brilliant Minds of Lady Scientist.

Scientist & entrepreneur, Dr. Erandi De Silva, grew up in the small country of Botswana, where she lived through an HIV epidemic. Seeing scientists and epidemiologists having a direct translational impact on public health inspired her to pursue a career in science. She immigrated to the US to go to college, and went on to get her PhD and did an industry postdoc at Genentech before founding Forge Biologics. In this episode, we discuss what it's like running a company that has both a 'platform' in the sense that they are a CDMO - they make AAV products for other companies, and a 'product' focused company, in the sense that they have a clinical product they are evaluating.

In this episode of Lady Scientist Podcast, Dr. Jocelynn Pearl hosts Emily McGinnis, Chief of Patient Advocacy at Taysha Gene Therapies, and Claire Aldridge, Chief Strategy Officer at Form Bio (spun out of Colossal Biosciences - the company that wants to de-extinct the dodo bird!) Together, we discuss challenges and advancements in gene therapy for rare diseases, emphasizing patient advocacy in drug development, and the need for optimization and scaling. Emily and Claire share their experiences communicating with patients and families as well as their career journeys to the C Suite. They also recommend resources and organizations for patients seeking information on potential therapies. This episode provides valuable insights into gene therapy, patient advocacy, and the career journeys to the C Suite.

Dr. Madeleine Oudin knew she was interested in medicine and biology from a young age. She took a science track of courses in high school in France and went on to do her undergraduate studies at McGill University. Despite a lack of advising, she found that she loved research and continued on to get a Masters and PhD in neuroscience. She shifted gears in her postdoc, studying cancer and tumor biology, and was surprised to learn of some of the overlaps with studying neuroscience. These two fields merged to form her research niche when she founded her own lab at Tufts University. But her research focus would again shift once she discovered the diagnosis of her daughter Margot, who suffers from a rare form of epilepsy caused by gene mutations in SCN8. Together with her husband, she now also studies these types of disorders in mice and is working towards a cure for her daughter.\n\nJoin us on this episode of LSP to learn from Dr. Oudin's impressive career journey and her inspiring dedication to help her daughter.

In today’s episode of Lady Scientist Podcast, Jocelynn chats with Yolanda Hagar, Associate Director of Bioinformatics and Clare Paterson, Director of Clinical Research, both at SomaLogic. Somalogic was founded in 2000 with the goal of improving the well-being and quality of life of every individual by transforming how diseases were detected, diagnosed and managed. Built on decades of aptamer research, SomaLogic scientists developed a ground-breaking proteomics technology that overcomes the significant challenges of existing protein measurements. Clare and Yolanda share their career journeys and the unique working environment, a collaboration of minds and expertise!

Kathy Lee-Sepsick founded Femasys, a women’s health technology company, 18 years ago. She’s been the leader and inventor behind the company’s expansive patent portfolio and is dedicated to minimally invasive technology that can improve options for infertility. From the Femasys website, more than 9 million women contend with infertility in the US, and innovation in this medical area has been relatively stagnant for 30 years. We dive into Kathy’s career path, leadership style, and observations in the women’s health space over the course of her career. An inspiring conversation!