The Biology of Brain Organoids (or, Don't Call it a Brain in a Dish!)

The Story of Schizophrenia: Descriptions of the mental illness we today call schizophrenia are as old as humankind itself. And more than likely, we are are all familiar with this disease in some way, as it touches 1% of us—millions of lives—and of course, their families. In this episode, we dive into the remarkable story of one such American family, the Galvins: Mimi, Don, and their 12 children, 6 of whom were afflicted with schizophrenia. In his book, Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family, Robert Kolker follows the Galvins from the 1950s to today—through, he writes, “the eras of institutionalization and shock therapy, the debates between psycho-therapy versus medication, the needle-in-a-haystack search for genetic markers for the disease, and the profound disagreements about the cause and origin of the illness itself.” Because of that, this is really more than just a portrait of one family; it’s a portrait of how we have struggled over the last decades to understa by Raising Health

38 min listen

Journal Club: Reversing Parkinson's with New Neurons: Parkinson's Disease is caused by the death of specific neurons in the brain. In this episode of the Bio Eats World Journal Club, we discuss research reprogramming non-neuronal brain cells (astrocytes) to become neurons to replace those lost to disease. This work paves the way for a potential cure for this devastating disease. by Raising Health

26 min listen

Going Back to the Workplace in a Pandemic: It's not normal to talk to your employer about the details of your health: your current temperature, who you've been exposed to, whether your kid is sick, whether or not you've been social distancing. So how do employers handle and manage this entirely new process of employees returning to the workplace in the midst of an ongoing pandemic? In this episode of Bio Eats World, Vineeta Agarwala (general partner at a16z), Phong Nguyen (EVP and General Manager at Accolade), Ryan Sandler (CEO and Cofounder of Truework), and Mark Sendak (Population Health & Data Science Lead at the Duke Institute for Health Innovation) talk about what it means for employers to now have to manage employee health in a whole new way, figuring out when it's safe to come back, how, and what tools you need. From monitoring employee health and preventing transmission to triaging what happens when there is a documented case; temperature checks (do they even make sense?); te by Raising Health

26 min listen

Introducing "Bio Eats World": Biology isn’t just a high school class anymore. A podcast about how biology and technology are shaping our future. by Raising Health

2 min listen

Biology by Design: We’re at the dawn of a new era where we’re truly able to design biology: from genetically engineered cotton, to meat made from plants, to incredibly complex new therapies composed of engineered cells and genes. And that's just the very beginning. One day, just about everything will be genetically engineered, from our medicines to our materials and manufacturing and much more. The question is no longer, can we design biology? Instead the question now is, what can we build with these tools? So how does that really happen? How can we build precise functions and circuits inside cells? How might we we engineer a cell to sense and perceive its environment, and respond to it? What new generation of companies will be built around these new capabilities? In this episode, Alec Nielsen, co-founder and CEO of Asimov, a company that builds tools to program living cells; Vijay Pande, General Partner at a16z; and Bio Eats World host Hanne Winarsky talk about where we are on the w by Raising Health

32 min listen

Journal Club: Super-Scaling COVID-19 Testing with DNA Sequencing: To safely reopen society during the COVID-19 pandemic, we need tests that are fast, can be given frequently, are inexpensive, and are easy to administer. On the Bio Eats World Journal Club we discuss the open source COVID-19 diagnostic platform SwabSeq, which was recently granted an EUA from the FDA. SwabSeq uses DNA sequencing to vastly increase the scale of testing so that it can be done broadly across a population. by Raising Health

19 min listen

The Cost Disease in Healthcare: with @pmarca and @vijaypande How come things like healthcare, education, and housing get more and more expensive, but things like socks, shoes, and electronics all get cheaper and cheaper? In this episode of Bio Eats World, a16z founder and internet pioneer Marc Andreessen, and General Partner Vijay Pande, discuss the lesser known law of economics that explains why healthcare, education and housing is so damn expensive, and getting worse. What’s really at heart is tech’s ability to transform (expensive) services into (affordable) goods: think of the cost of a live string quartet, versus a streamed recorded track; or the cost of a custom-made shoe, versus a factory-made one. Until now, using tech to similarly transform services into goods in healthcare has seemed like an impossible dream — how would you do this for, say, the service of doctors providing care? But in this wide ranging conversation all about technology and society across all industries, A by Raising Health

29 min listen

The Google Maps Moment in (Modeling) Biology: You don't have to build a million planes to test a million aeronautical designs; we have mathematical simulations and models that do that for us. But in biology—once the class you'd take in high school if you loved science, but hated math—that's been impossible... until very recently. In this episode, Markus Covert, Professor of Bioengineering at Stanford, a16z deal partner Judy Savitskaya, and Bio Eats World host Hanne Winarsky, talk all about where we are in our ability to simulate and build models for how biology works. Because biology has been so qualitative in the past, and so complex, it's been extremely difficult to translate samples that are, say, gel smudges on a plate into the kind of qualitative data we need for these simulations and models. But we're finally reaching the “Google Maps” moment in biology, Covert says, beginning to be able to build models at the single molecule level, of genetic circuits, whole cells, the dynamic by Raising Health

33 min listen

Journal Club: Modeling Mysterious Brain Structures: You've probably heard of the blood-brain barrier, but did you know there is a second barrier that protects that brain from the blood? It is formed by the choroid plexus, which produces the cerebral spinal fluid. This understudied but critical part of the brain is finally getting the attention it deserves due to a new "mini brain" model. We discuss this model and its many applications on this episode of Journal Club. by Raising Health

23 min listen

The Biology of Pain: Why do we experience physical pain? Is all pain the same, or are there different types? Do people experience pain differently? Professor of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School Clifford Woolf, and Bio Eats World host Hanne Winarsky talk about everything we know about the biology of pain. Technology is today enabling a new, deeper, and much more complex understanding of the phenomenon of pain. Which pathways and neurons are activated in the brain and when, and what patterns might represent different kinds of pain? In this episode (first aired on the a16z Podcast in September 2019), Woolf describes the four different phenotypes of pain, the purpose of each, and what changes when we begin to understand them as distinct types. What does it mean for how we can treat pain in the future… and where we can intervene? by Raising Health

37 min listen

Journal Club: Defeating Type 1 Diabetes by Raising Health

20 min listen

Journal Club: Turning a Toxin into a Genome Editing Tool: In this episode of Journal Club we discuss the development of the first genome editing enzyme capable of performing precision edits to the mitochondrial genome. Mutations in the mitochondrial genome cause over 150 different human diseases, but none of our existing gene editing tools have been able to edit this DNA. This newly developed tool can be used to create better models of these diseases and and perhaps one day be used to treat them with gene therapy. by Raising Health

21 min listen

Journal Club: Decoding Developmental Disorders by Raising Health

22 min listen

The Biology of Aging: with @LauraDeming, @kpfortney, @vijaypande, and @omnivorousread Welcome to the first episode of Bio Eats World, a brand new podcast all about how biology is technology. Bio is breaking out of the lab and clinic and into our daily lives—on the verge of revolutionizing our world in ways we are only just beginning to imagine. In this episode, we talk all about the science of aging. Once a fringe field, aging research is now entering a new phase with the first clinical trials of aging-related drugs. As the entire field shifts into this moment of translation, what have we learned? What are the basic approaches to developing aging-related drugs? How is studying aging helping us understand diseases like cancer and Alzheimer's—and increasing the amount of time we are healthy—today? In this conversation, Laura Deming, founder of The Longevity Fund; Kristen Fortney, co-founder of BioAge, a clinical-stage company focused on finding drugs to extend healthspan; Vijay Pande by Raising Health

27 min listen

It's Time to Build in Healthcare: COVID-19, Innovation, and What Comes Next: In this episode of Bio Eats World, a16z founder and internet pioneer Marc Andreessen and general partner Jorge Conde zoom out to discuss the large scale societal effects of the current pandemic on society, healthcare, biotech, and innovation. COVID-19 has been catastrophic—but also catalyzed enormous change and a dramatic groundswell of innovation. Where are we now? Which of these changes will stay, and which may recede? What new innovations and impacts might be still to come, and what are we learning that can be applied towards the future? Building on Marc Andreessen's article and call to action, “It’s Time to Build,” Jorge and Marc discuss what needs to be built in healthcare today (for example, would a pandemic warning system help us next time?); the impact of COVID-19 on innovation and mindsets in the biopharma industry; the shift towards measuring output that could spur more innovation; and finally, wha by Raising Health

27 min listen

Food as Medicine: We all know that eating healthy is better for you—and that following that advice is far harder than it sounds, for a multitude of reasons, from culture to preferences to access and affordability. And yet the reality is that access to good, nutritious food is perhaps the most powerful medical treatment we have, when it comes not just preventing sickness, but helping sick people get better—and potentially saving the healthcare system potentially billions in treating chronic disease. So what happens if we begin to treat food truly as a medicine in the healthcare system? How can we really implement this "medicine" into the healthcare system? What are the different approaches, from food delivery to packaging to the content of the meal itself? How can food as a medicine be distributed, paid for and reimbursed, and what role can technology take in increasing access, distribution, and more? In this conversation, a16z General Partner Julie Yoo talks with Dr. Andrea Feinberg, by Raising Health

20 min listen

Sea Turtle Medicine by Raising Health

39 min listen

The Thermodynamics of Life: with @lifelikephysics, @vijaypande, and @omnivorousread Where does life truly begin? How do we understand the fundamental nature of what is “alive” and what is “not alive”? In this episode of Bio Eats World, Professor Jeremy England discusses his new book, Every Life is on Fire, all about how what we might use physics to understand to be the origins of life—and how we define what being alive is. As biologists, we are taught that life evolved as the result of Darwinian natural selection. But what happens if instead, you use a physicist’s lens to examine what life looks to be—and define it as a specialized order and relationship between matter and the patterns of it’s an environment? England—a senior director in artificial intelligence at GlaxoSmithKline, principal research scientist at Georgia Tech, former associate professor of physics at MIT, and one of Forbes’ “30 Under 30 Rising Stars of Science”—describes this new idea as “dissapative adaptation”. The by Raising Health

25 min listen

Journal Club: From Insect Eyes to Nanomaterials: How did studying insect eyes reveal a potential new way of manufacturing nanomaterials? And what does Alan Turing have to do with it? Find out on this episode of the Bio Eats World Journal Club. by Raising Health

20 min listen

We, the Patients: Healthcare is perhaps unique in that the entire system exists entirely to serve the patient... and yet, in many ways, that same patient is not the customer. In fact, the patient—and the patient's voice—can often be lost or overlooked in the enormous, complex, convoluted business flows, between a huge system of providers, in elaborate clinical work flows, in insurance coverage and reimbursements, or in high level policy debates. In this episode, a16z General Partner Julie Yoo and a16z partner Jay Rughani talk with Freda Lewis Hall—a physician; formerly Pfizer’s Chief Patient Officer and Chief Medical Officer; Chief Medical Officer at Vertex; and who among many other roles was appointed by the Obama Administration to the Board of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI)—all about what happens when you rethink the entire healthcare system from the patient's point of view. We tell patients what they need, instead of asking them what they need—let alone l by Raising Health

35 min listen

Revolutions in Cancer Treament—Past, Present, and Future: with @JorgeCondeBio, @JLimMD, @AmerCancerCEO, and @omnivorousread In this episode of Bio Eats World, we explore all the major revolutions in cancer treatment across the history of medicine—and what’s coming next. Hanne Winarsky delves into the past and future of the fight against cancer with Gary Reedy, CEO of the American Cancer Society; Jonathan Lim, CEO of Erasca, a biotech company with the mission of erasing cancer; and Jorge Conde, a16z general partner. The conversation spans not only the history of cancer treatment from the early days of surgery and the first radiology treatment (with an x-ray!), but also the fundamental nature of cancer—its origins, progressions, and how to stop it; the birth of precision genetic medicine and targeted therapies; our most powerful tools today (both low and high tech); and finally, the coming new tools and revolutions at the very cutting edge of cancer treatment. by Raising Health

35 min listen

Journal Club: Slaying the Sleeper Cells of Aging by Raising Health

19 min listen

Journal Club: Architecting an Aggressive Cancer: Why are some cancers benign and some aggressive? On this episode of the Bio Eats World Journal Club we discuss new research uncovering an unexpected explanation: tumor architecture. by Raising Health

23 min listen

Journal Club: Synthetic Germs, Our Newest Weapon for Fighting Cancer by Raising Health

22 min listen

Journal Club: Taming the Taste for Blood by Raising Health

28 min listen

The Genetics of Risk: Genetic testing is on the cusp of a major revolution, which has the potential to shift not just how we understand our risk for disease, but how we practice healthcare. In the clinic today, genetic testing is used only in cases where we know that mutations have big impact on physiology (BRCA mutations in breast cancer, for example). But our knowledge of how our genetics influences our risk for disease has evolved, and we now know that many (tens of thousands to even millions) small changes in our genes, each of which individually has a tiny effect, combine to influence our risk profile. This new appreciation — coupled with powerful statistical methods and massive datasets — has fueled the creation of a new tool to quantify the risk of a broad range of common diseases: the polygenic risk score. On this episode, host Lauren Richardson (@lr_bio) is joined by Dr. Peter Donnelly, (@genemodeller Professor of Statistical Science at the University of Oxford and the CEO of by Raising Health

31 min listen

Journal Club: Degrading Drugs for Problematic Proteins: In this episode of the Bio Eats World Journal Club we discuss breakthrough research developing a brand new type of drug that can target specific disease-related proteins for degradation by the cell. These new drugs could be used to attack the proteins that cause some of our most intractable diseases. by Raising Health

24 min listen

Journal Club: Bioengineering Birth by Raising Health

18 min listen

Health—at What Price?: Imagine if the airline industry did not post prices for flights in advance. What if instead of posting fares on travel sites, airlines argued they could only bill you after the flight, because they didn't know what the fuel price will be that day; whether or not you would consume a beverage; if the flight might be diverted or delayed; whether that pilot would have to work harder and bill more in their coding of the flight after they land? And yet, this is exactly what happens in healthcare. Despite the cost crisis in healthcare, we still don't talk about prices—prices for procedures, for visits, for services. But in January 2021, thanks to new regulation, that will change. In this episode, a16z General Partner Julie Yoo talks with Dr. Marty Makary, surgical oncologist at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, health policy expert—and a longtime advocate for transparent pricing in the healthcare system. Makary argues that making prices obvious will change a by Raising Health

31 min listen

So You Wanna Build a Software Company in Healthcare?: Building a software company in healthcare is hard—and comes along with unique challenges no other entrepreneurs face. In this conversation, a16z bio general partner (and previous founder of genomics company Knome) Jorge Conde; and a16z bio partner and former founder Julie Yoo (of patient provider matching system, Kyruus) share their mistakes and hard earned lessons learned with Bio Eats World host Hanne Winarsky in this now classic episode, first aired on the a16z Podcast. Why is this so damn hard? How should founders think about this space differently? What are the specific things that healthcare founders can do—when, where, and why? You wish you only knew all this when you started your own company. by Raising Health

38 min listen

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The Biology of Brain Organoids (or, Don't Call it a Brain in a Dish!)

The Biology of Brain Organoids (or, Don't Call it a Brain in a Dish!)

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