Once a Scientist
Once A Scientist is a podcast about how science is changing and the people changing with it.
Hosted by scientist and entrepreneur Nick Edwards, the show features conversations with researchers, founders, technologists, investors, and operators working at the edges of biology, AI, automation, robotics, and drug discovery.
Guests talk about the technologies reshaping scientific work, the problems they believe are worth solving, and the often-unplanned paths that brought them there. Along the way, Nick explores a bigger question: as machines take on more of the work of reading, analyzing, designing, and eventually executing experiments, what becomes possible for science—and what becomes more important for scientists?
Once A Scientist is about where science is going, who is building it, and how the next generation of scientists can find their place in it.
Episodes
103 episodes
98. Renee Wegrzyn and Anna Marie Wagner, Founders of Transfyr, on Why Science's Reproducibility Problem Isn't in the Lab Notebook
Renee Wegrzyn, PhD, is co-founder of Transfyr AI. Recognized as a TIME 100 Innovator, Rock Health Top 50 Digital Health Innovator, and recipient of the Superior Public Service Medal, Renee holds a BS and PhD in Applied Biology and Bioengineerin...
97. Ron Alfa, CEO of NOETIK, on Biology as a Search Problem
Ron is Co-Founder and CEO of NOETIK, a next generation precision oncology company using multimodal foundation models pre-trained on large-scale human tumor data to discover cancer therapeutics. He holds an M...
96. Chris Anderson, Advisor to Pillar VC and former Wired Editor, on How Adjacent Technologies Will Transform Lab Automation
Chris Anderson currently serves as an advisor at Pillar VC and Renaissance Philanthropy. He was editor of WIRED and spent seven years at The Economist, where he worked as editor of both the technology and business sections. Anderson holds a deg...
95. Stacie Calad-Thomson, Head of BioPharma Labs and Manufacturing BD at NVIDIA, on AI as an endless collaborator
Stacie Calad-Thomason is Head of BioPharma Labs and Manufacturing Business Development at NVIDIA. She has a PhD in Chemistry from UC Irvine and a B.A. in Chemistry from UC Berkeley.Topics & Timecodes:Physical AI Tools (Omniver...
94. Ira Hoffman, CEO of HighRes on robots, digital twins and how we will speed up science
Ira Hoffman is the CEO of HighRes. He has a M.S. in Computer Science and a B.A. in Physics/Mathematics from the University of Vermont. OUTLINE:[00:00] - Introduction to collaborative robots and safe human-robot coexistence[0...
93. Jason Kelly, CEO and co-founder of Ginkgo Bioworks, on the future of autonomous laboratories
Episode 93. Jason Kelly is the co-founder and CEO of Ginkgo Bioworks. He has a Ph.D. in Biological Engineering and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and Biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.References:...
92. Ashlee Vance, tech reporter and filmmaker, on storytelling, science funding, and interviewing billionaires
Episode 92. Ashlee Vance is a renowned tech and science reporter, filmmaker, and founder of Core Memory, a podcast and blog that chronicles the lives and discoveries of scientists and engineers (https://www.corememory.com/). He wrote the defini...
91. Michael Koeris, Director of DARPA BTO, on autonomous science to accelerate discovery
Episode 91. Michael Koeris is the Director of the Biotechnologies Office at DARPA. Michael completed his PhD at Boston University and did postdoctoral research in synthetic biology at MIT. He spent time early in his career at Flagship Pioneerin...
90. Barry Bunin, CEO at Collaborative Drug Discovery, on tapping into the collective consciousness of science.
Episode 90. Barry Bunin is the CEO and President at Collaborative Drug Discovery, which he founded 20 years ago. Prior to that, Barry was an Entrepreneur in Residence at Eli Lilly. He completed his PhD in Bioorganic Chemistry at UC Berkeley and...
89. Seemay Chou, CEO of Arcadia Science, on metascience and rethinking the structure of science
Seemay Chou is co-founder and CEO at Arcadia Science, Board Member at Astera Institute, and Board Chairperson at The Navigation Fund. Seemay was previously an assistant professor at UCSF and completed her PhD in Molecular and Cell Biology at UC...
88. Gene Yeo, professor at UC San Diego, on team science and building a training playground
Episode 88. Eugene Yeo is a Professor at UC San Diego and is building a scientific ecosystem in San Diego. He runs the Innovation Center at Sanford Stem Cell Institute, is Scientific Director at the Sanford Consortium, Chief Scientist at the Sa...
87. Jesse Gray and Sud Pinglay, at SeaHub, on recording cellular activity and making big bets
Episode 87. Sudarshan Pinglay is a researcher at the University of Washington and faculty at the Seattle Hub for Synthetic Biology (SeaHub). He did his PhD at New York University and bachelor's degree at Johns Hopkins. Jesse Gray is a Sen...
86. Prachee Avasthi, CSO at Arcadia Science, on exercising agency and doing science differently
Episode 86. Prachee Avasthi is co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer at Arcadia Science and Head of Open Science at the Astera Institute. Prachee was previously a professor at Dartmouth and University of Kansas. She completed a PhD in Neurosc...
85. Fay Lin, science journalist and editor, on seeking out diverse voices and learning from experts
Episode 85. Fay Lin is a Senior Editor at GEN Biotechnology. She completed her PhD in Biochemistry, Molecular, and Structural Biology at UCLA and undergrad in Biology at NYU with minors in Computer Science and Chemistry.GEN Biotechnolog...
84. Maryann Martone, professor at UC San Diego, on neuroinformatics, reproducibility, and open science
Episode 84. Maryann Martone is an emeritus professor of neuroscience at UC San Diego. She received her BA from Wellesley College in Biological Psychology and Ancient Greek and her PhD in Neuroscience from the UC San Diego
83. Anand Muthusamy, Convergent Research fellow, on going after ambitious scientific moonshots
Anand Muthusamy is a Fellow at Convergent Research, where he's laying the groundwork for a focused research organization (FRO) to monitor the real-time activity of biomarkers in humans. Anand is a chemist and neuroscientist. He recently ...
82. Alexander Titus, professor and entrepreneur, on why scientists make great entrepreneurs
Episode 82. Alexander Titus is a professor at USC, doing research at the intersection of biology and AI. He completed his PhD in Quantitative Biomedical Sciences at Dartmouth. He's also the founder of Bioeconomy.xyz and advises the U.S. Governm...
81. Ashley Ruba, academic expat and career coach, on being nimble and making pivots
Episode 81. Ashley Ruba is the founder of After Academia and a Human Factors Engineer at Arthrex. Ashley did her PhD in developmental psychology at the University of Washington and her undergrad degree at Duke University. Sh...
80. Amy Kruse, neurotech investor, on forging new paths
Episode 80. Amy Kruse is Chief Investment Officer at Satori Capital and a Venture Partner at Prime Movers Lab. Amy completed her PhD in Neuroscience at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. After leaving the bench, Amy spent time as a Progra...
79. Sammi Sison, co-president of Nucleate, on grassroots efforts to impact science education and commercialization
Episode 79. Sammi Sison is co-president of Nucleate, an international student-led organization designed to help scientists kick off careers in entrepreneurship, business development, and venture capital. Sammi is a PhD student at UC San Diego w...
78. Kim Edwards, my much better half, on what I'm doing starting a business
Episode 78. Kim Edwards, my partner, is the guest interviewer. We talk about motivations for starting a company. Check out the journey in real-time on my newsletter: transitionstates.substack.com
77. Jun Axup, entrepreneur and musician, on science moonshots through Focused Research Organizations
Episode 77. Jun Axup is Chief Operating Officer at E11 Bio, a Focused Research Organization. She is an entrepreneur and former Chief Scientific Officer and Partner at IndiBio. She's also a musician, artist, and community builder. Jun completed ...
76. William Marks, a friend and entrepreneur, interviews me way back in 2020 on starting a podcast and getting into neuroscience
Episode 76. We turn the table in this episode. William Marks, a longtime friend, interviews me in 2020 on the motivations behind getting into neuroscience and starting a podcast
75. Andrew Akbashev, a Scientist and Creator for Academia, on navigating academia and its challenges as a grad student, postdoc, and group lead
Episode 75. Andrew Akbashev is a Scientist and Principal Investigator at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland. He holds a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from Drexel University and completed a postdoc at Stanford University. If y...
74. Quantum biologist, Clarice Aiello, on incremental science vs transformational science
Episode 74. Clarice Aiello is the Principal Investigator of the Quantum Biology lab at UCLA. She completed a PhD in Electrical Engineering at MIT and did postdoctoral fellowships at Stanford and UC Berkeley. Check out this article ...