Best Naresh Sunkara Phd Podcasts (2025)

1
Altitude Lab Fund- Supporting healthcare founders in challenging times 51:41

2M ago51:41

51:41

Chandana Haque is the Executive Director of Altitude Lab, a healthcare startup accelerator building a community of diverse entrepreneurs in Utah. Altitude Lab was cofounded in 2020 by Chandana and Chris Gibson, the co-founder & CEO of Recursion in Salt Lake City. They recently announced the launch of a pre-seed venture fund aimed at supporting earl…

1
Partnering to accelerate therapeutics: A primer on forming alliances and their management 50:40

5M ago50:40

50:40

Monica Rosoff, the founder and CEO of LBBAL™ Alianza. Prior to launching Alianza, Monica was a partnering executive with roles of increasing seniority at Genentech, Gilead, Kite and Exelixis. Over the course of over two decades, she had the opportunity to lead and participate in a wide diversity of deals, negotiations, diligence exercises, alliance…

1
From Pitches to Stories: Transforming Complex Ideas into Engaging Narratives 54:11

8M ago54:11

54:11

Zack Shildhorn is an investing Partner at venture firm Lux Capital. He played multiple key roles that helped the firm scale from less than $100M to more than $4B in assets under management. After witnessing thousands of pitches, he saw that even the most disruptive startups often struggled to develop effective narratives. Having worked closely with…

1
Turning great science into impactful medicine: Lessons from Corey Goodman, Pioneer in Science and Venture Capital 1:21:13

10M ago1:21:13

1:21:13

Corey Goodman, Ph.D., is the managing partner of venBio, a venture capital firm he cofounded in 2011. venBio already has 7 FDA approved drugs on the market, saving and improving lives. Corey spent 25 years as Professor of Biology at Stanford University and Evan Rauch Chair of Neurobiology at U.C. Berkeley, where he was a HHMI Investigator, Head of …

1
Pushing Boundaries: Abhishek Tripathi’s Experience with NASA, SpaceX, UC Berkeley and Startups 1:01:24

10M ago1:01:24

1:01:24

Abhishek Tripathi, is the Director of Mission operations of the Space Sciences Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley. Abhi is also the Chair of the Air and Space track startups at Skydeck, which is UC Berkeley's startup accelerator program. For over two decades, Abhi has been at the forefront of human and robotic space exploration. A…

1
Lessons from Evolution of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Ecosystem at UC Berkeley 58:06

12M ago58:06

58:06

Richard Lyons, Ph.D., is the Associate Vice Chancellor and Chief Innovation & Entrepreneurship Officer, at the University of California, Berkeley. Rich is an economist and the former dean of the business school. Rich will become the next chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley. We talk about a wide variety of topics around the Evolutio…

1
Civilization Ventures: Lessons learned from founding, exiting and applying them to support founders as an investor 54:45

1y ago54:45

54:45

Shahram Seyedin-Noor is the founder and managing partner at Civilization Ventures. Shahram received a JD from Harvard and worked at Wilson Solsinis and Cooley before going into investment banking at firms like Goldman Sachs and Bank of America. He then entered the startup world co-founding several startups. He eventually ended up Angel investing an…

1
Humba Ventures: Investing in Deep Tech Startups with Engineering Focus 53:11

1y ago53:11

53:11

Leo Polovets is the Co-founder and General Partner at Susa Ventures. Leo focuses on enterprise software and technical products at Susa. About two years ago, He also started Humba Ventures, a fund that invests in deep tech and critical national sectors like energy and defense at Humba. Leo led Susa's investments in Mashgin, People Data Labs, Scalyr,…

1
Berkeley Skydeck- Catalyzing the growth of deep tech startups at the world’s number one ranked public university. 52:08

1y ago52:08

52:08

Caroline Winnett is the Executive Director of Berkeley Skydeck, a startup accelerator at the University of California, Berkeley. Skydeck started as a mentoring space in 2012 and soon translated into one of the leading startup accelerators in the world. SkyDeck was Formed as a partnership between UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, the College of…

1
Medtech Innovator and Biotools Innovator: accelerator for medical device, digital health and diagnostic companies 1:12:25

1+ y ago1:12:25

1:12:25

Paul Grand is the founder and CEO; Ayelet Marom is the Program Director for BioTools Innovator, which focuses specifically on biotools; and Jim West is the Associate Director, BioTools Innovator, who was previously the Co-Founder and CEO of, Clara Biotech, which was founded in 2018 and was acquired by Innovaprep in the summer of 2023. Jim was the f…

1
Metcela - Treating chronic organ diseases using a novel fibroblast-based technology 58:06

1+ y ago58:06

58:06

Kenichi Nogami is the co-founder and CEO of Metcela, a clinical-stage biotechnology startup pioneering the research and development of fibroblast and stem cell-based therapy for chronic heart diseases that currently have limited therapeutic options. We talk about the current treatments for heart failure and how the fibroblast technology could help …

1
Lessons learned from a scientist entrepreneur turned investor 1:16:45

1+ y ago1:16:45

1:16:45

Caleb Bell III, Ph.D., is a venture partner at Corundum Systems Biology and also the President of Corundum convergence institute. We talk about the founding story of Bell biosystems; how they were able to work at various labs around the country with very little money; building teams, culture; raising money, interacting with investors, leadership tr…

1
NAMUH - Attempt at closing the gap between infant formula and human breast milk 1:05:44

1+ y ago1:05:44

1:05:44

Chaeyoung Shin was the Co-founder and CEO of NAMUH, a startup focused on developing yeast fermentation technologies to produce human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs). HMOs are crucial, fiber-equivalent macronutrients that are currently lacking in most formulas. Integrating them in sufficient amounts could significantly close the nutritional disparity b…

1
NASA fueling innovation through SBIR/STTR, Awards & Prizes 48:32

1+ y ago48:32

48:32

Jenn Gustetic is the Director of Early Stage Innovations and Partnerships at NASA. In this episode of Lab to startup, we will learn about various funding mechanisms that NASA provides to support innovation, primarily to support NASA space missions. We talk about the funding process through contracts; differences between grants and contracts; NASA’s…

1
Independent directors for startups 49:31

2y ago49:31

49:31

Ryan Caldbeck, is the COO of Dune, a powerful analytics platform for blockchain research. It can be used to query, extract, and visualize vast amounts of data on the Ethereum blockchain. Ryan was previously the founder, and CEO of CircleUp, a technology platform focused on finding and evaluating private companies. He is also an angel investor in se…

1
Feeding our astronauts - Reflections of a NASA food scientist 1:08:25

2y ago1:08:25

1:08:25

Vickie Kloeris is a food scientist with an out of this world career. She worked at NASA in space food systems for 34 years. She served as the NASA manager of the Shuttle first and then the International Space Station food systems. She and her teams worked through the complex challenges of creating tasty, nutritious, long-lasting, easy-to-prepare me…

1
Developing foundational tools for engineering metabolism inside cells to solve important societal problems. 57:28

2y ago57:28

57:28

Jay Keasling, the CEO of the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI). He is also a Professor in the Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and also the Department of Bioengineering at the University of California, Berkeley.. He’s also a Senior Faculty Scientist @ Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and also holds other prestigious positions a…

1
PCDworks: Hardtech Basecamp Incubator for building hardware products 1:00:15

2y ago1:00:15

1:00:15

Donna Rainone and Mike Rainone are the founders of PCDworks. PCDworks is a technology development company that helped develop hardware for over 50 big companies in the oil and gas, transportation, healthcare and several other industries; and now helping startups with a new incubator model. We first talk about lessons learned from building innovativ…

1
VeriSIM Life: Using AI to build translational indices to push better drug moieties into clinicals 1:09:22

2y ago1:09:22

1:09:22

Jo Varshney, Ph.D., is the founder and CEO of VeriSIM Life, a startup developing disease-specific simulation software designed to replace animal drug testing by using artificial intelligence. We talk about translational gap in drug discovery, the technology VeriSIM is developing, especially their virtual mouse models; some of the mathematical model…

1
Osage University Partners- Funding university spinouts 55:43

2y ago55:43

55:43

Manny Stockman is a Partner at Osage University Partners. OUP exclusively invests in startups spun out of university research. We talk about the investment thesis of Osage University Partners; technology readiness challenges; lessons learned from investing in early stage technologies at universities; challenges with the current market research used…

1
Lucira Health 2:07:29

2y ago2:07:29

2:07:29

Debkishora Mitra and John Waldeisen are the co-founders of Lucira Health. Lucira Health, which was originally founded as Diassess, is the first company to get an FDA approval for at-home PCR based test for COVID. We talk about the story of Lucira from its founding stage to raising; the technological and market based pivots; raising over $250M (incl…

1
Legal 101 for deeptech founders; Understanding the basics; dilution, and safeguarding employee equity 1:18:13

2y ago1:18:13

1:18:13

Nick Dorsey and Amanda Gold are partners at Cravath, Swaine and Moore, LLP. Cravath has been known as one of the premier law firms in the US for more than two centuries. We talk about a wide variety of topics involving legal aspects for startups from incorporation to exit- incorporation, picking a law firm, equity split, vesting, hiring first emplo…

1
Cuberg- Next generation Lithium metal battery technology for the electric mobility industry 1:13:10

2+ y ago1:13:10

1:13:10

Richard Wang, Ph.D., is the Founder and CEO of Cuberg, a startup building the world’s first aviation-certified lithium metal battery pack. Robert is also the CEO at Northvolt America, which acquired Cuberg in 2021. We talk about the current challenges around battery innovation and solutions that are being worked on followed by Richard’s journey fro…

1
Gradient- Building smart heat pumps that use better coolants to cool and heat the world 58:35

2+ y ago58:35

58:35

Vince Romanin, Ph.D., is the co-founder and CEO of Gradient. They are developing a new heat pump technology to address the impact that air conditioners impose on our climate. We talk about the problem with the current HVAC systems and air conditioners, the energy consumption and pollution they cause, history of heat pumps, and then learn about the …

1
Valitor- Engineering better medicines by leveraging its multi-valent biopolymer technology 57:51

2+ y ago57:51

57:51

Wesley Jackson, Ph..D., is the co-founder, President and Chief Scientific Officer of Valitor. Wes was the founding CEO and led the startup through its Series B financing where they raised over$30M to date. Valitor is a biotech startup that uses a novel protein-biopolymer conjugation technology that was licensed from the University of California, Be…

1
Translating lessons learnt on diversity from academia to startups and the tech world. 59:31

2+ y ago59:31

59:31

Freeman A. Hrabowski, III is the President Emeritus of UMBC (The University of Maryland, Baltimore County) who served as president from 1992 to 2022. His research and publications focus on science and math education, with special emphasis on minority participation and performance.. He was named in 2012 by President Obama to chair the President’s Ad…

1
[REPLAY] Building the startup muscle for academic founders. 50:16

2+ y ago50:16

50:16

Martin Casado is a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), a pioneer of software-defined networking, and a co-founder of Nicira Networks. We cover the lessons learnt from Martin's journey as an academic entrepreneur founding Nicira and factors that aspiring entrepreneurs planning to translate their research to products should consider. - Sto…

1
Nucleate Bio- A collaborative student-led organization that facilitates the formation of pioneering life sciences companies 1:06:35

2+ y ago1:06:35

1:06:35

Anjali Ramaswami, Tobias Schmid and Miroslov Gasparek, are leaders at Nucleate Bio, a nonprofit educational organization that empowers the next generation of bio-entrepreneurs to launch successful life sciences ventures. Their program connects early-career scientists with business students and provides a structured educational framework with one-on…

1
Activate- Empowering scientists to bring their research to market 1:04:27

2+ y ago1:04:27

1:04:27

Matt Price is the co-founder and President of Activate, a program teaching scientists how to bring their research to market. He was previously the Managing Director of Cyclotron Road, and comes with experiences in the Renewable Energy space , Materials Science, and Venture Capital industry. In this episode of lab to startup, we talk about the Activ…

1
National Security Innovation Capital (NSIC)- Funding dual-use hardware startups 37:22

2+ y ago37:22

37:22

Salvador Badillo-Rios, an Associate at the National Security Innovation Capital (NSIC). We talk about the origins of the National Security Innovation Capital (NSIC); funding priorities; criteria for funding; application process; and insights into best practices for applicants. Show Notes: - Website: National Security Innovation Capital (NSIC) - Bui…

1
Market intelligence reports for startups - Arkady Hagopian 48:44

2+ y ago48:44

48:44

Arkady Hagopian is an experienced professional in the market intelligence reports space both in industry and academic startup sectors. In this episode of lab to startup, we will talk about what market intelligence reports are; the building blocks of these reports; how startups could build one; mistakes to avoid; how to decide on hiring a firm if yo…

1
Revolutionizing organ preservation and transplantation by mimicking antifreeze proteins of Arctic fish 1:17:22

2+ y ago1:17:22

1:17:22

Xiaoxi Wei, Ph.D (CEO) and Mark Kline, Ph.D. (CTO) are the cofounders of X-Therma, a biotechnology startup developing a breakthrough technology for regenerative medicine and organ preservation. In this episode of lab to startup, we talk about the challenges around organ preservation and transplantation; and how a technology they developed at Lawren…

1
Building the Bay Area Life Sciences Startup Ecosystem 1:13:48

2+ y ago1:13:48

1:13:48

Regis Kelly and Doug Crawford have been instrumental in building the Bay Area life sciences startup ecosystem over the past two decades. They continue to grow this ecosystem, making it easier for aspiring founders to translate their research to products at startups. In this episode of Lab to Startup, we talk about the story behind building QB3 that…

1
RH Capital (a Rhia Venture Fund): Investing in reproductive and maternal health 52:36

2+ y ago52:36

52:36

Alice Zheng is a Principal at RH Capital, a venture fund investing in early-stage high-impact companies across the reproductive and maternal health landscape. Alice holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and MD and MPH from the University of Michigan. Alice was previously a women’s health practice leader at McKinsey & company. In this episode of…

1
Caribou Biosciences- Developing CRISPR based genome-edited, off-the-shelf immune cell therapies for the treatment of cancer. 1:09:40

3y ago1:09:40

1:09:40

My guest today is Rachel Haurwitz, co-founder, President and CEO of Caribou Biosciences. Caribou is a CRISPR genome editing company spun out of Jennifer Doudna’s lab at the University of California, Berkeley. In this episode of lab to startup, we will talk to Rachel about how she built Caribou right after finishing her PhD in Jennifer Doudna’s lab,…

1
Nodexus- Benchtop single cell sorting and dispensing 55:54

3y ago55:54

55:54

Karthik Balakrishnan (CEO) and Anand Kesavaraju (Chief Strategy Officer) are the co-founders of Nodexus, a Biotechnology startup that is developing scientific tools to accelerate biological workflows and make them universally accessible. Their first product is a single cell sorting and dispensing machine. In this episode of lab to startup, we talk …

1
Raydiant Oximetry- Preventing unnecessary C-Sections and making childbirth safer 52:37

3y ago52:37

52:37

Dr. Neil Ray is the Founder and CEO of Raydiant Oximetry, a medical device company that has developed a safe and non-invasive technology that directly monitors babies’ oxygenation during childbirth. This prevents unnecessary C-sections for women during childbirth, while keeping the newborn safe. Neil is a clinical anaesthesiologist by training, who…

1
Ignite Immunotherapy- Success story of novel “build to buy” business model with Pfizer 48:58

3y ago48:58

48:58

Dr. David Kirn MD, is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of 4DMT, a clinical gene therapy company, and was founder and CEO of Ignite Immunotherapeutics, recently acquired by Pfizer. David is a Physician-scientist and serial biotech entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience in the industry with a focus on viral vector-based therapeutics …

1
UbiQD- Leveraging quantum dots to improve crop yield & harvesting sunlight to generate electricity 1:03:33

3y ago1:03:33

1:03:33

My guest today is Hunter McDaniel, the founder and CEO of UbiQD, a startup exploiting quantum dots to improve agricultural yield in greenhouses and generating electricity by embedding them into windows. In this episode of Lab to startup, we talk about how non-toxic quantum dots were developed at Los Alamos; the evolution of the use cases; fundraisi…

1
Calwave Energy- Unlocking the power of ocean by harvesting energy from waves 59:59

3y ago59:59

59:59

In this episode of lab to startup, we talk to Marcus Lehmann, the Co-founder and CEO of Calwave Energy. Calwave is unlocking the power of the ocean by harvesting the dense energy packed in waves, which is about 30-60 times more dense than solar or wind! We will talk about the underlying technology development, engineering challenges, partnerships t…

1
Horizon Partners- M&A for bootstrapped technology companies 49:21

3y ago49:21

49:21

Sandy Kory is a Managing Director and co-founder of Horizon Partners; and most recently announced a new Seed Stage Venture Capital Fund HorizonVC, where he is a General Partner. Sandy has been advising bootstrapped technology companies for over 15 years and co-leads every client engagement. HIs approach is informed by actively investing in technolo…

1
University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners- Investing and supporting startups from the seed/early stages in academia in Japan and abroad. 46:40

3y ago46:40

46:40

Keis Ide is a partner at UTEC, a Japanese Venture capital firm investing in deep tech across the world. Keis focuses on innovative technologies as well as IT-enabled solutions. He spent 15 years in the US, half of which in Silicon Valley. He was awarded Forbes Japan Midas List (2017, 2020), Japan Venture Award (2021). UTEC has been working with aca…

1
Ayar Labs: Disrupting semiconductor and computing industries while dramatically reducing energy usage 1:01:22

3y ago1:01:22

1:01:22

Alexandra Wright Gladstein is the founding CEO of Ayar Labs. Alex met her co-founders, Chen Sun, and Mark Wade at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she was pursuing her MBA. We talk about the research that resulted in launching Ayar labs, the learning curve that she had trying to master the technology while being a non-technologist a…

1
Bakar Bioenginuity Hub- Accelerating research to realization 1:11:44

3y ago1:11:44

1:11:44

Prof. Amy Herr is the Executive Director of the Bakar Bioenginuity Hub (BBH) and Prof. Regis Kelly is the Director of Bakar Labs at the University of California, Berkeley. BBH is a new campus initiative that aims to launch the startups at Bakar Labs, a world-class incubator. The facility is open to teams from around the world — a space where anyone…

1
Nelumbo: Keeping the world cool by mitigating frost and corrosion challenges with heat exchangers in Air Conditioners 1:09:14

3+ y ago1:09:14

1:09:14

Liam Berryman (CEO) and Lance Brockway, Ph.D. (CTO) are the co-founders of Nelumbo, a startup developing an advanced materials platform focused on improving the energy performance and minimizing corrosion challenges with heat exchangers in Air Conditioners and also mitigating icing on outdoor units and refrigeration. They are also developing water …

1
New Sun Road- A startup building technologies to provide energy (renewable energy) and internet access to remote and developing communities. 1:13:55

3+ y ago1:13:55

1:13:55

Jalel Sager, Ph.D. (CEO), Austin Cappon (Networks & hardware), and Jonathan Lee (Senior R&D Engineer) are the co-founders of a California based startup, New Sun Road (NSR). They develop cloud-based technology systems designed to distribute energy (clean technologies), and internet connectivity issues for off-grid communities around the world. We ta…

1
Nitrase Therapeutics: Story of a scientist turned entrepreneur whose persistence led to the discovery of a new class of enzymes and potential therapeutics 1:01:17

3+ y ago1:01:17

1:01:17

Irene Griswold-Prenner, Ph.D., is the founder and CSO of Nitrase Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company deploying its unique NITROME platform to unlock the therapeutic potential of nitrases, a new class of enzymes discovered in-house that offer the promise of a pipeline of therapies against a broad variety of diseases. Their breakthrough discove…

1
Scalmibio: An oncology biotech (antibody prodrugs) startup from idea to exit that originated from the founder's own fight with cancer 1:22:15

3+ y ago1:22:15

1:22:15

Summary: Marija Vrljic, Ph.D., is the co-founder and CEO of Scalmibio, an early-stage biotechnology startup that developed a transformational technology focused on oncology applications. We talk about the inspiration for launching the startup, how she was able to bootstrap the company, raised non-dilutive funds which ultimately led to being acquire…

1
Enabling Awesome through MBC Biolabs, Mission Bio Capital & Mission Bay Capital 1:05:53

3+ y ago1:05:53

1:05:53

Douglas Crawford, Ph.D., is the General Manager of MBC Biolabs, Managing Partner of Mission BioCapital, a VC fund investing in life sciences startups at the seed and Series A stages. We talk about the facilities that help scientists at MBC Biolabs, how to get accepted to the labs, partners, golden tickets and stories of startups; funding hypothesis…

1
Rocket Fund- helping academic innovators in the cleantech and sustainability space turn their technologies into commercial realities through grants, mentoring and education. 59:05

3+ y ago59:05

59:05

Rocket Fund: https://rocketfund.caltech.edu/ Email: [email protected] Application process and background information: https://drive.google.com/file/d/19ubtkD1ziVeXqDChnL00gP6wDFWTsQGb/view?usp=sharing Application: https://platform.younoodle.com/competition/caltech_rocket_fund_2022 - A program that has a way to introduce startups to d…

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Naresh Sunkara Phd Podcasts

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