From Lab to Launch by Qualio

If you’ve been following From Lab to Launch for a while, you may remember a previous conversation with Sapient’s Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Mo Jain, a couple years back. We’re thrilled to build on that conversation with Dr. Jonathan Usuka, the CEO of Sapient. 

Sapient is one of the largest capacity biomarker discovery labs in the world, and their mission is to accelerate drug development and improve patient outcomes through biomarker-guided therapeutics. By combining high-resolution biomolecular data with advanced computational approaches, Sapient is helping sponsors and researchers unlock new therapeutic targets and navigate complex biology at unprecedented speed and scale.

With more than 25 years of experience at the intersection of business, science, and technology, Jonathan has led innovation strategies across drug development, diagnostics, and AI-driven discovery. From streamlining therapeutic pipelines to pushing the boundaries of integrated diagnostics, his work is helping reshape how biopharma organizations bring life-changing therapies to patients.

Qualio website:
https://www.qualio.com/

Previous episodes:
https://www.qualio.com/from-lab-to-launch-podcast

Apply to be on the show:
https://forms.gle/uUH2YtCFxJHrVGeL8

Music by keldez

In this episode, Meg speaks to Ilya Burkov, the Global Head of Healthcare & Lifesciences Growth at Nebius AI.

Nebius AI’s goal is simple: to provide the cloud infrastructure that will be the groundwork of the AI revolution we can all see happening in front of us. Nebius’ suite of tools helps life science companies gather data and then train, fine-tune and launch their AI models into the world.

Ilya’s role is to oversee and drive the adoption of this cloud AI technology within the life science and healthcare sectors, placing him at the cutting edge of this next wave of industry change.

Qualio website:
https://www.qualio.com/

Previous episodes:
https://www.qualio.com/from-lab-to-launch-podcast

Apply to be on the show:
https://forms.gle/uUH2YtCFxJHrVGeL8

Music by keldez

When we think of medical devices and how they’re built, 3D printing isn’t necessarily the first thing that comes to mind. But Boston Micro Fabrication is at the cutting edge of an exciting development in how life-saving devices are prototyped and created. 

With the news that the FDA is pivoting away from animal testing towards 3D organoids, and with the growing need to produce miniature, intricate and high-quality devices at speed, BMF’s nanometer-precise microArch 3D printing technology is opening the door to new possibilities - allowing the rapid production of equipment like stents, endoscopes, and even needles. A BMF-built catheter recently featured in a nature.com scientific report, delivering 183x higher drug concentrations for liver cancer treatment than would otherwise have been possible.

We were thrilled to talk to the CEO of BMF, John Kawola, about the company's exciting work.

Qualio website:
https://www.qualio.com/

Previous episodes:
https://www.qualio.com/from-lab-to-launch-podcast

Apply to be on the show:
https://forms.gle/uUH2YtCFxJHrVGeL8

Music by keldez

If you’ve ever seen a medical drama, you know how intense it gets when a patient is bleeding and doctors have to act fast. But in real life, understanding why someone is bleeding—and how best to stop it—isn’t always straightforward. That’s where Dr. Francesco Viola’s work at HemoSonics comes in.

HemoSonics provides a solution for doctors to get a clear picture of how a patient’s blood is clotting. Instead of waiting for slow lab results or guessing which blood products to give, doctors can now make informed decisions in real time—right at the bedside. 

Dr. Viola brings a unique blend of engineering precision and clinical vision to HemoSonics. With a background in biomedical engineering and more than a decade of experience in medical ultrasound, signal processing, and instrumentation, he’s led the charge in developing HemoSonics’ groundbreaking Sonic Estimation of Elasticity via Resonance (SEER) technology.

Under his leadership, HemoSonics is addressing one of the most critical gaps in patient care: the need for fast, accurate, and actionable blood clotting data—whether during surgery, in the ICU, or at the point of trauma.

Qualio website:
https://www.qualio.com/

Previous episodes:
https://www.qualio.com/from-lab-to-launch-podcast

Apply to be on the show:
https://forms.gle/uUH2YtCFxJHrVGeL8

Music by keldez

As complexity in pharmaceutical development reaches new heights — especially with over 60% of recent FDA novel molecular entities falling outside traditional drug design rules — the need for advanced formulation and manufacturing strategies has never been greater. Precision medicine is no longer a future goal; it’s a present necessity. And that’s exactly where AustinPx comes in.

At the forefront of this shift is AustinPx’s KinetiSol technology, a powerful platform designed to make the “undevelopable” developable — transforming poorly soluble, highly potent small molecules into scalable, patient-ready therapies. 

Dr. Dave Miller, CSO, has spent more than 20 years in pharmaceutical R&D, helping drug developers navigate the challenges of bioavailability, permeability, and manufacturability for complex molecules.

Today, we’ll explore with Dave how CDMOs like AustinPx are empowering a new era of personalized treatment—while offering product protection strategies that help biopharma companies stand out in a competitive, cost-sensitive market.

Qualio website:
https://www.qualio.com/

Previous episodes:
https://www.qualio.com/from-lab-to-launch-podcast

Apply to be on the show:
https://forms.gle/uUH2YtCFxJHrVGeL8

Music by keldez

Understanding how cells interact is a critical cornerstone of modern life science, and Axion BioSystems is right at the confluence of live-cell analysis and next-generation technology. 

Axion’s Maestro and Multiwell products are helping to unlock the secrets of cellular behavior and allow the tracking of the health and function of thousands of cells at once, in real time. 

CEO Julien Bradley joined Meg on the show to discuss why understanding cellular behavior is so important - and what exciting possibilities come from Axion's vital work.

Qualio website:
https://www.qualio.com/

Previous episodes:
https://www.qualio.com/from-lab-to-launch-podcast

Apply to be on the show:
https://forms.gle/uUH2YtCFxJHrVGeL8

Music by keldez

Today we’re heading across the Atlantic to speak to Dr. James Field, CEO of London-based LabGenius Therapeutics.

LabGenius has a really exciting mission. James and his team of 60 scientists and engineers believe in the powerful combination of human and artificial intelligence, and are pioneering an ML-driven protein engineering platform - EVA - that can design and execute experiments for the development of next-gen antibodies, including complex multispecifics.

LabGenius has already raised over $75m in venture capital and built R&D deals with some major pharma and biotech players. After founding the company in 2012, James was named in Forbes’ ‘30 Under 30’ list for science and healthcare, and even won Innovator of the Year award from the UK’s Biotech & Biological Sciences Research Council.

Qualio website:
https://www.qualio.com/

Previous episodes:
https://www.qualio.com/from-lab-to-launch-podcast

Apply to be on the show:
https://forms.gle/uUH2YtCFxJHrVGeL8

Music by keldez

We made a bonus episode of From Lab To Launch to mark a special occasion: the launch of Qualio's fourth annual life science quality trends report in March 2025.

Our very own Kat and Clive dug into the report and its fascinating findings to see how life science quality teams are spending their time, what they're planning for 2025, and what headaches and frustrations they're looking to conquer this year.

Join us and dive into our report - and read the full thing at reports.qualio.com!

Note: the audio in this episode has been made using artificial intelligence

Qualio website:
https://www.qualio.com/

Previous episodes:
https://www.qualio.com/from-lab-to-launch-podcast

Apply to be on the show:
https://forms.gle/uUH2YtCFxJHrVGeL8

Music by keldez

As the organ transplant list continues to grow, experts in the transplant diagnostics industry are looking for ways to address the supply and demand challenges within the field. 

New tactics, like retransplantation and xenotransplantation, and new testing methods, such as HLA testing and transplant diagnostics, are being explored to boost transplant success rates and ensure more patients get the lifesaving transplants they need. 

As President of Thermo Fisher Scientific’s transplant diagnostics division, Tina Liedtky is at the cutting edge of meeting this challenge. 

She’s also passionate about addressing health equity issues, such as ingrained biases regarding gender and race, to help bridge the transplantation gap.

Tina joined Meg for a fascinating discussion about the future of transplantation, closing 'the gap', and Thermo Fisher's recent award.

Qualio website:
https://www.qualio.com/

Previous episodes:
https://www.qualio.com/from-lab-to-launch-podcast

Apply to be on the show:
https://forms.gle/uUH2YtCFxJHrVGeL8

Music by keldez

As more preventative approaches to health are set to take center stage, some diseases can’t be prevented but can be managed more proactively. Blood-based biomarkers, such as p-tau217, hold great promise for earlier, more proactive detection and monitoring of diseases such as Alzheimer’s, and it’s here that Quanterix plays a critical role.

Their Simoa digital health platform serves as the backbone for the majority of p-tau217 tests on the market today, reducing reliance on costly PET and CSF testing and streamlining the diagnostic journey for Alzheimer’s disease.

Mark has been a leader in the biotech space for over 2 decades, with a string of leadership roles before he joined Quanterix in 2014 and became their CSO in 2022.

Mark joined Meg on From Lab To Launch to discuss the exciting predictive power of biomarker technology, and what the future holds for spotting and treating diseases early.

Qualio website:
https://www.qualio.com/

Previous episodes:
https://www.qualio.com/from-lab-to-launch-podcast

Apply to be on the show:
https://forms.gle/uUH2YtCFxJHrVGeL8

Music by keldez