Africa Biotech Conversations

In this episode of the Africa Biotech Conversation podcast, host Adrienne Leussa speaks with Cindy Lawley, Sr Director, Global Population Health of the Proteomics Company, Olink. 

Cindy shares insights on her background, the technology of Olink, and its potential impact on understanding genetic risks of diseases.

In this episode, we learn of the first deployment of Olink’s technology on the African continent at the Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine (IDM) in Cape Town, South Africa. 

Cindy joined Olink in 2020 soon after the launch of the Explore Platform that leverages Next Generation Sequencing as a high throughput proteomic readout.  At Olink, she drives population health initiatives, working closely with the UK Biobank, FinnGen, SCALLOP and other large cohort studies. 

Prior to Olink, Cindy spent 14 years at Illumina and together with customers, she helped develop solutions to better understand genetic risk in diverse populations and holds several Excellence in Technology Transfer awards for her work leading Illumina’s Consortia Program. 

Cindy is passionate about innovation to make multiomic technologies easier and cheaper to measure.  Such advances are essential to lower barriers to implement scalable, reproducible discoveries that can be translated to the clinic to drive individualized medicine and health equity. 

Main Topics Covered: 

• Cindy Lawley's background and work with Illumina 

• The importance of studying diverse populations to understand the impact of genetics to health 

• The Olink platform as a scalable tool for protein analysis to understand disease phenotype 

• Case studies of Olink’s use around the world 

• The first deployment of the Olink technology on the African continent 

• The potential advantages of employing proteomics in Africa’s biopharma startups. 

• Career advice for women and recent graduates

• The human capacity and intellectual capabilities in the biotech space in Africa 

Links to publications mentioned in the interview: 

SCALLOP website: https://olink.com/our-community/scallop/ 

SCALLOP Nature Metabolism paper Folkersen et al 2020: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7611474/ 

54gene preprint Biddanda et al 2022 https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.12.09.519773v1 

UK Biobank Pharma Proteomics Project Preprint: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.06.17.496443v1 

Cohen et al 2005 on PCSK9 and LDL in African population: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15654334/ 

In this episode of the Africa Biotech Conversation podcast, host Adrienne Leussa speaks with Neil Thanedar, the founder of labdoor.com and Utopic Ventures.

Neil shares his inspiring story of building a biotech startup like a Silicon Valley tech company, including the creation of Labdoor.com, which tests vitamins and supplements that the FDA doesn't test and offers free transparency on product purity and accuracy. Through Labdoor.com, Neil raised over $7 million in seed and Series A funding and built a platform for independent testing. 

Neil also discusses Utopic Ventures, a fund they started to fill the gap for the first equity check for biotech startups, particularly those that need to drop out or spin out of universities. The focus of the fund is to help biotech founders take the first few steps after they've spun out of a university and get their first sets of funding. 

Here are some of the key topics covered in this episode: 

• Neil Thanedar's background and inspiration for entering the biotech industry 

• How he raised funding for Labdoor.com and his vision for the future of biotech startups 

• The vision for Utopic Ventures and filling the gap for pre-seed and seed funding for biotech startups 

• The potential of younger and international biotech founders 

• The bias against founder-driven and non-pharma biotech 

• The potential for biotech in agriculture, industrial, and environmental sectors 

• The meaning of "it's 1994 again" and how the next generation of businesses will be created 

• The importance of education for investors about biotech.

• The potential for Africa in the biotech industry

Discover the cutting-edge world of Valley DAO - the decentralised autonomous organisation that's shaking up venture capital.

In this episode, we explore how Valley DAO is using blockchain technology and community-driven decision-making to invest in the future of biotech startups.

Join the co-founders, Albert Anis and Morgan Richards, as we uncover the fascinating story behind this innovative approach to funding and supporting early-stage companies.

We share information on how to become a member of Valley DAO. 

Welcome to the latest episode of our Africa biotech conversations podcast, where we explore the latest innovations and trends in the biotechnology industry on the African continent and beyond. 

In today's episode, we'll be diving into the rapidly growing SynBio Africa community and how it is advancing the field of synthetic biology on the continent.

Synthetic biology combines biology, engineering, and computer science to design and build new biological systems with specific functions. 

Our guest today is Ian Peter Busuulwa, an expert in the field of synthetic biology, acting as science policy and communication officer of SynBio Africa. We'll be discussing how this community is tackling some of Africa's most pressing challenges, such as food security, healthcare, and environmental sustainability, and how they are building capacity for synthetic biology research, innovation and biosecurity on the continent. 

We covered these topics and more:

• Origin story of SynBio Africa 

• Synthetic Biology landscape in Africa 

• Membership conditions for SynBio Africa 

• Policy gaps that need to filled to enable a thriving biotech industry in Africa 

• How to support the involvement of women in the field of synthetic biology field in Africa 

• Relevant trends in biotechnology to Africa 

SynBio Africa has an exciting upcoming event, the second International Synthetic Biology and Biosecurity conference in Africa (#SBA2.0) taking place in Kampala, Uganda from July 12 to 14, 2023. 

So sit back, grab your headphones, and join us as we delve into the exciting world of synthetic biology in Africa! 

2 to 4 trillion USD in 2030-40...is the potential direct annual global impact of an estimated pipeline of 400 currently scientifically achievable use cases of the Bio Revolution, according to a 2020 report by McKinsey & Company.

This is going to be as a result of up to 60 percent of the physical inputs to the global economy being produced biologically—with nonbiological materials like plastics or fuels potentially being produced or substituted using biology.

Biology will become the ultimate distributed, manufacturing platform. Bio-based industries will exchange expensive, complicated industrial chemical syntheses that use high temperatures, high pressures and toxic catalysts with cheaper, more resource efficient and less toxic biochemical syntheses.

The Bio Revolution is fueled by a convergence of breakthroughs in biological science and faster development of computing, automation, and artificial intelligence. The Bio Revolution would transform what we eat and wear, the medicines we take, the fuels we use, and how we construct our physical world.

Cognizant of these facts, my guest on the latest episode of the Africa Biotech Conversations podcast believes that “The future will be shaped by the convergence of life science and computing technologies” and has dedicated her investment thesis to synthetic biology startups.

Loretta TIOIELA is the co-founder & Managing Partner of Next Sequence, a new venture firm incubated at VC Lab. Prior to starting Next Sequence, Loretta worked for over 12 years as a technologist in Cloud and A.I. technologies for major industry players such as Samsung and Huawei Technologies and she co-founded OpenSynBio, the 1st Open Computing Foundation for Synthetic Biology.

In our conversation, we spoke about:

• Why she started the not-for-profit foundation, OpenSynBio and the Venture Firm, Next Sequence
• The global focus of Next Sequence
•  What criteria does Next Sequence lean towards to vet entrepreneurs for investment 
• Renowned investors targeting synthetic biology or tech bio companies
• The need for diversity in venture capital firms and investor community
• Loretta’s personal motivation for going into VC and recommendations for anyone interested in VC and becoming an investor.

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In this first episode of the Africa biotech conversations podcast for 2023, I spoke with Jayne McLaughlin, a director at george james Ltd, a company founded in 1999 to provide successful recruitment and training services to the technology and science sector. 

Jayne and I talked about:

• Jayne’s journey from research through commercial to recruiting supporting the growth of the Life sciences industry across Europe
• Huge diversity of jobs available to people with a scientific background
• Taking responsibility for your career and broadening your skillset
• How biotech startups can benefit from the 3 branches of business of george james Ltd: recruitment, training and corporate development
• Free access for startups to two databases, of +1500 consultants and non-executive directors from across the globe, built over the last five years.
• The importance of having quality, diverse, and experienced people as part of the C-level leadership, board of directors and advisors of biotech startups to de-risk and get investment
• How to manage skills gaps by scientific founders of biotech startups
• The role of networking in either shaping your career or making a business successful.
• Practical networking tips

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Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrienne-leussa/

In this episode of the Africa biotech conversations podcast, I spoke with Laud Anthony Basing, the Founder and CEO of Incas diagnostics, a biotech company in Ghana, which develops and manufactures lateral flow and molecular Point-of-Care tests specifically for the African Market.

In our inspiring and insightful conversation we covered the following points:

• How his upbringing contributed to his entrepreneurial skills and curiosity
• The transition of Diagnostics from a medical laboratory to a Biotech manufacturing company
• Taking a bet on himself and an unusual strategy to gain required skills in the USA
• The importance of starting a company as a side hustle as an aspiring entrepreneur
• The purpose of Incas Diagnostics and the key role of medical testing in healthcare
• Social entrepreneurship and profitability
• Closing the supply chain gap via human capital development
• Challenges faced by Incas Diagnostics as a local biotech company on the continent
• How to enlist support from the general population for biotech industry in Africa
• Current products on the market by Incas Diagnostics
• Expansion prospects and collaboration opportunities
• Recommended skills and how to gain them to succeed as a biotech entrepreneur in Africa
• Lessons learned from the economic downturn in 2022
• 2023 Outlook for Biotech industry in Africa
• Upcoming trends in the Africa biotech space in the near future

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In this episode I spoke to Saberi Marais, an Innovation Commercialization Manager for the University of Cape Town in South Africa; part of Research Contracts and Innovations.

He commercializes the University’s research outputs to realize their intended impact in society and return on capital. Saberi has extensive experience in deep technology invention valorization, project and business fund raising, deal structuring, investment funds management through the different stages of technology development and Venture Capital.

He is experienced in a variety of industry sectors; including inventions in healthcare, medical devices, human and animal vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics, biotechnology, renewable energy and various software and hardware applications.

He was awarded the coveted DSI/ SARIMA Award for Professional Excellence in Innovation Management in 2020. He is a member of the SA Startup Act Movement steering committee. His previous work roles included the Head of the Seed Fund Programme at the Technology Innovation Agency where he oversaw the implementation, management and pipeline growth of the early-stage technology-enabling Fund; he worked as a Business Development Manager at Innovus, Stellenbosch University; and the SA Medical Research Council’s Innovation team.

Our very insightful conversation went quite in depth on several topics including:

• The role of universities in this whole innovation ecosystem
• Lessons learnt from the golden triangle in the UK and other ecosystems
• Examples of university spin out companies part of the biotech value chain in South Africa: Unistel medical laboratories from Stellenbosch university, Smart Spot from Wits university, Hyrax biosciences from UWC, Resyn biosciences from the CSIR, Cape Biopharms and Cape Biologics, Impulse biomedical from University of Cape town.
• Factors that set apart successful biotech startups and specifically university spin outs
• The IPR Act and other policies that govern the creation of biotech companies in South Africa
• The role of technology transfer offices at universities
• Various commercialization scenarios
• The evolution of the funding landscape in South Africa
• Trends to focus on in South Africa for a sustainable Biotech ecosystem in the near future

"Who's crazy enough to start a vaccine production company, a surveillance diagnostic production company in Africa?" Dr Cornelius Cano Ssemakalu, one of the co-inventors and CSO at Iraka Biotech.

Iraka Biotech is a South African-based start-up company that localises the creation, enhancement, and equitable sharing of life science solutions. Iraka Biotech was founded by Ms Blanche Lee Shong (CEO) and Dr Cornelius Cano Ssemakalu to address the lack of adequate and timely access to quality one health solutions, especially in Africa.

Their vision is to improve health by making premium one health solutions reliably and conveniently accessible. To achieve this vision, Iraka Biotech is developing cutting-edge therapeutics, diagnostics, and product logistics technologies.

Iraka Biotech has received several awards, including the Global Clean Tech Program (GCIP) SA award, Gauteng Accelerator Programme (GAP) Medical award, the Irish Tech Challenge SA award and the Bio Africa start-up pitch award. Iraka Biotech has been considered among the top 40 Tech startups globally by the Animal Health, Nutrition and Technology Innovation (AHNTI) network.

With Dr Ssemakalu, we covered the broad topics below:

• Why and how Iraka biotech was created
• Some of the solutions Iraka biotech has developed
• The challenges encountered by operating in Africa and how they get around these
• What skill(s) are most useful to possess as a biotech entrepreneur in Africa
• How to ensure that more women are retained and lead in the African biotech industry
• Trends are currently having the most impact on biotech in Africa and how is that likely to play out over the next few years?

This has been one of my favorite episodes of the Africa Biotech Conversations podcast because it is about 2 of my favorite topics women and biotech business. In honor of August being women’s month in South Africa, I interviewed Dr Sarah Carroll who is CEO and co-founder of MariHealth Solutions, a spin-off company of the University of Cape town, in South Africa.

MariHealth Solutions was co-founded with her ex-PhD supervisor, Vernon Coyne to make real-world use of research that was being done at the academic institution. Sarah is passionate about climate change activism and finding innovative ways to live sustainably in a changing climate. Her introduction to business has been aided by mentorship and business ideation and execution through a venture acceleration program hosted by the Graduate School of Business at the University of Cape Town, in partnership with Ayoba.

Sarah and I had a fun and insightful conversation around:

• Building an open and honest relationship with her PhD supervisor and now co-founder
• The origin story of MariHealth Solutions from research lab focus to a university spin-off company
• Filling the gap by shifting focus from a reactive aquaculture health management to a proactive approach
• Opportunities in the aquaculture business sector within the South African context
• Challenges of being a female entrepreneur and leader in the African biotech space
• Skills that have enabled her to be a successful entrepreneur
• How to ensure more women become biotech entrepreneurs in Africa
• Trends that will drive biotech innovation in Africa over the next few years