S2, E2: Fauna Bio tapping animal evolution and AI for drug development with CEO Ashley Zehnder and Prof Elinor Karlsson, Broad Institute (MIT/Harvard)
In this episode of Raising Biotech, Surani explores the truly unique story of Fauna Bio — a female trio founding team that is studying evolution and the intersection of animal and human genomics to unlock powerful new therapeutics to treat complex human diseases. The company has raised a total of $19 million in financing since its inception (2018), but most recently made headlines for its $494 million collaboration with Eli Lilly to study obesity drugs. Ashley Zehnder, CEO and co-founder talks about her academic beginnings as a veterinarian and serendipitously meeting her fellow co-founders in her post-doctoral group at Stanford. She talks about their fundraising journey, getting through investor doors and how the company hopes to take its novel thesis into the clinic. Surani is also joined by Professor Elinor Karlsson, Director of the Vertebrate Genomics Group at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard to give more context on how studying different mammalian species and evolution can give scientists clues to treating common human diseases. She also discusses the significance of artificial intelligence and machine learning in allowing this thesis to shine.
Timestamps:
00:35 – Partner segment: Mindgram.ai
01:05 – Background of Fauna Bio and animal biology thesis
04:01 – CEO Ashley Zehnder’s backstory and company formation with Linda Goodman (CSO) and Katie Grabeck (COO)
07:45 – Fauna’s first kick-start with the Longevity fund accelerator
09:01 – Fauna’s seed financing journey and attracting investors with curiosity
15:10 – Professor Elinor Karlsson (MIT/Harvard) gives some context on Fauna’s unique scientific thesis
18:50 – The era of AI/ML making this prime time for exploring Fauna’s thesis
22:30 – Partnerships and pipeline: initial focus on cardiopulmonary and obesity assets
29:00 – Challenges ahead for the company to navigate
31:25 – Future mission and visions for the company
This episode is partnered with Mindgram.ai, a research tool powered by AI to better serve the biopharma community. Listeners of the Raising Biotech podcast are able to get an exclusive free trial of Mindgram via this link, using the code: raisingbiotech24
For any comments, questions, feedback or suggestions you can connect directly with Surani Fernando on LinkedIn or email: [email protected]
Music composed by: Yrii Semchyshyn (Coma Media)
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