A frozen vial, a lifesaving diagnosis: how a Nova Scotia company reimagined bleeding tests and changed outcomes worldwide. In this episode of New Wave we unpack how Precision Biologic turned a simple customer insight - freeze the reagent - into a global shift in hemostasis diagnostics.

Episode breakdown & timestamps

- 00:00 Hook & scene: the everyday miracle of blood clotting and why it matters. (00:00)

- 01:48 Show intro & mission: New Wave, Life Sciences Nova Scotia & Snack Labs. (01:48)

- 02:07 The clotting cascade explained: Dr. John Geske walks us through the 13-step process and why each factor matters for diagnosis. (02:07)

- 06:55 Athlete story: Alex Dowsett on living with severe hemophilia A and the stakes of timely testing. (06:55)

- 12:10 Diagnostic delays and family stories: why unreliable tests cost years of life and peace of mind. (12:10)

- 13:48 The breakthrough: Precision Biologic’s frozen (cryopreserved) reagent strategy and product story. (13:48)

- 17:31 Cold chain & scale: liquid nitrogen, dry ice, logistics and global distribution challenges. (17:31)

- 19:31 Systems impact: how accurate diagnostics reduce costly treatment errors and protect health budgets. (19:31)

- 22:00 Closing: regulation, persistence, and what comes next for diagnostics innovation. (22:00)

Guests & bios

- Dr. John Geske — Chief Scientific Officer, Precision Biologic. He explains the science behind hemostasis, the technical hurdles for reagents, and why frozen plasma-based controls changed lab workflows.

- Paul Empy — CEO, Precision Biologic. Describes customer discovery, product strategy, and the company’s operational choices.

- Alex Dowsett — Professional cyclist and person living with severe hemophilia A. His story humanizes diagnostic urgency.

Key takeaways & memorable quotes

- "A frozen vial of plasma" became the phrase that reminded the company of the lives their work touches.

- Frozen liquid reagents eliminate a high-risk, error-prone reconstitution step in labs—improving accuracy, speed, and patient safety.

- Accurate diagnostics lower system-wide costs (avoiding unnecessary $10,000 drug switches) and speed correct treatments.

- Quote: "If you do this work once under perfect conditions and ship it frozen, you remove human error at the bench."

Why this matters

This episode explores diagnostic innovation, frozen reagents, hemostasis labs, hemophilia diagnostics, cold-chain logistics, and patient-centered product design. Target keywords include frozen diagnostics, hemophilia testing, precision biologic, cryo reagents, and Nova Scotia life sciences.

Call-to-action

If you found this episode illuminating, subscribe to New Wave, rate & review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and share with colleagues in lab medicine.

Links & resources mentioned

- Precision Biologic: https://precisionbiologic.com

- Life Sciences Nova Scotia: https://lifesciencesnovascotia.ca/

- Snack Labs podcast production: https://wearesnack.io

- World Federation of Hemophilia (patient resources): https://www.wfh.org

Show branding & social handles

New Wave — stories about life sciences and health tech from Nova Scotia.

Follow: Life Sciences Nova Scotia (LinkedIn) | @snackpodcasts (instagram | Precision BioLogic (LinkedIn)

This episode blends investigative reporting with scientific explanation and patient stories to reveal how a small operational change—freezing reagents—reduced diagnostic risk and improved outcomes worldwide. Perfect for clinicians, lab directors, biotech founders, and anyone interested in relatable science and systems-level healthcare impact.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We've all heard of ultrasound, but what you likely haven't heard of is the mind bending sci-fi future of an established technology that's been in the works for decades. On this episode of New Wave, we're speaking with Jeff Leadbetter from Daxsonics Ultrasound about how his company helps top medical minds bring revolutionary ultrasound research to life in a way that will blow you away. From burning lesions in the brain to wipe out neurological disorders, to scalpels that don't have to cut through skin, welcome to the world of ultrasound you didn't know existed.

New Wave is produced by Snack Labs. It is written & narrated by Taylor MacGillivary. New Wave is edited by, Jeremie Saunders, Brian Stever and Taylor MacGillivary from Snack Labs. Music and sound design is by Donovan Morgan. Find out more about Snack Labs at www.wearesnack.io

This series is brought to you by Life Sciences Nova Scotia. LSNS is fueling innovation and commercial success of the life sciences sector in Nova Scotia by amplifying the ambition of founders and visionaries who aim to change the world through the commercialization of game-changing ideas. Learn more about them at www.lifesciencesnovascotia.ca

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Standardization reigns supreme in the world of science, but when it comes to drug development, a Nova Scotian company is challenging the status quo. Patient centred outcomes have been identified by the FDA as a clinical trials tool that needs more attention, and Ardea Outcomes is doing just that. Building off of the foundation of Goal Attainment Scaling, a method pioneered in the 1960s to help treat patients struggling with mental health challenges, Ardea Outcomes is helping create objective data from subjective experience and putting patients at the centre of their own treatment.

New Wave is produced by Snack Labs. It is written & narrated by Taylor MacGillivary. New Wave is edited by, Jeremie Saunders, Brian Stever and Taylor MacGillivary from Snack Labs. Music and sound design is by Donovan Morgan. Find out more about Snack Labs at www.wearesnack.io

This series is brought to you by Life Sciences Nova Scotia. LSNS is fuelling innovation and commercial success of the life sciences sector in Nova Scotia by amplifying the ambition of founders and visionaries who aim to change the world through the commercialization of game-changing ideas. Learn more about them at www.lifesciencesnovascotia.ca

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Eric Hoffman's academic career began in the artistic arena of music, and ended at the bleeding edge of the genetic revolution. in 1987, he discovered the very first disease causing gene...the gene responsible for Muscular Dystrophy. With grit and determination, Eric dedicated his professional life to turning a scientific discovery into treatments that can actually change lives, and he is tireless in that pursuit. Join us as we learn how AGADA Biosciences has become the silent partner in the global fight against Musular Dystrophy, and how Alexei, who has lived with MD since childhood, has struggled, and defied the odds, with a disease that doesn't quit.

New Wave is produced by Snack Labs. It is written & narrated by Taylor MacGillivary. New Wave is edited by, Jeremie Saunders, Brian Stever and Taylor MacGillivary from Snack Labs. Music and sound design is by Donovan Morgan. Find out more about Snack Labs at www.wearesnack.io

This series is brought to you by Life Sciences Nova Scotia. LSNS is fueling innovation and commercial success of the life sciences sector in Nova Scotia by amplifying the ambition of founders and visionaries who aim to change the world through the commercialization of game-changing ideas. Learn more about them at www.lifesciencesnovascotia.ca

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our eyes evolved in sunlight, and sunlight is something we are exposed to less and less as our technological world puts us indoors and in front of screens more and more each day. Enter Coloursmith, a Nova Scotian company that has broken through a barrier of innovation in contact lense technology, enabling a level of colour filtration that has been virtually impossible to achieve, until now. Join us as we dive into the Myopia epidemic that is spreading across the globe at an alarming rate, and how colour filtration could lend a hand in curbing a vision crisis that has been lurking right before our eyes.

New Wave is produced by Snack Labs. It is written & narrated by Taylor MacGillivary. New Wave is edited by, Jeremie Saunders, Brian Stever and Taylor MacGillivary from Snack Labs. Music and sound design is by Donovan Morgan. Find out more about Snack Labs at www.wearesnack.io

This series is brought to you by Life Sciences Nova Scotia. LSNS is fueling innovation and commercial success of the life sciences sector in Nova Scotia by amplifying the ambition of founders and visionaries who aim to change the world through the commercialization of game-changing ideas. Learn more about them at www.lifesciencesnovascotia.ca

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Every day, 17 people in the United States die while waiting for an organ transplant. We're a great distance away from creating funtioning, complex organs from scratch, but it's a sci-fi future that we're convinced is coming. An integral part of bringing that future to life, is collagen. Collagen is like the scaffolding on which this future will be built, literally AND figuratively, and there's a company in Nova Scotia that has unlocked the door, for the first time, to scalable and affordable collagen production. The company, is 3D BioFibr.

New Wave is produced by Snack Labs. It is narrated Taylor MacGillivary and written by Haeley DiRisio and Taylor MacGillivary. New Wave is edited by, Jeremie Saunders and Taylor MacGillivary from Snack Labs. Music and sound design is by Donovan Morgan. Find out more about Snack Labs at www.wearesnack.io

This series is brought to you by Life Sciences Nova Scotia. LSNS is fuelling innovation and commercial success of the life sciences sector in Nova Scotia by amplifying the ambition of founders and visionaries who aim to change the world through the commercialization of game-changing ideas. Learn more about them at www.lifesciencesnovascotia.ca

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Do you want to live past 75? If the answer to that question seems obvious, consider that the average human, at this point in time, will face a 16 year decline, beginning in their early 60s, until the end of their lifespan in their late 70s. This is the difference between what we call lifespan and healthspan. Luckily for us, there's an industry of longevity that has been gaining steam over the past decade or more, and part of that longevity industry is Altheda Wellness. Join us as we speak with CEO Chris MacLean and CSO Melanie Kelly from Altheda Wellness and learn how they're developing nutraceuticals to help the elderly population stretch out their healthspan by working on the issues that put their health the most at risk.

New Wave is produced by Snack Labs. It is narrated Taylor MacGillivary and written by Haeley DiRisio and Taylor MacGillivary. New Wave is edited by, Jeremie Saunders and Taylor MacGillivary from Snack Labs. Music and sound design is by Donovan Morgan. Find out more about Snack Labs at www.wearesnack.io

This series is brought to you by Life Sciences Nova Scotia. LSNS is fuelling innovation and commercial success of the life sciences sector in Nova Scotia by amplifying the ambition of founders and visionaries who aim to change the world through the commercialization of game-changing ideas. Learn more about them at www.lifesciencesnovascotia.ca

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you've ever been referred to a medical specialist, you probably waited a very...long...time. Waiting to see specialists is a bottleneck in the Canadian healthcare system that is crippling it from the bottom up, but there's one Nova Scotian company who's determined to help solve it. Virtual Hallway is a software platform that connects primary care providers to specialists across the vast spetrum of medical specialties, creating medical solutions for people in a week, instead of 18 months.

New Wave is produced by Snack Labs. It is narrated Taylor MacGillivary and written by Haeley DiRisio and Taylor MacGillivary. New Wave is edited by, Jeremie Saunders and Taylor MacGillivary from Snack Labs. Music and sound design is by Donovan Morgan. Find out more about Snack Labs at www.wearesnack.io

This series is brought to you by Life Sciences Nova Scotia. LSNS is fuelling innovation and commercial success of the life sciences sector in Nova Scotia by amplifying the ambition of founders and visionaries who aim to change the world through the commercialization of game-changing ideas. Learn more about them at www.lifesciencesnovascotia.ca

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Orthopaedic surgery has made leaps and bounds in the 20th and 21st centuries, but the surgical solutions for one of the most common shoulder injuries continues to fall short for patients who rely on them. That injury is called a Massive Irepperable Rotator Cuff Tear. This episode of New Wave explores the innovations of a Nova Scotia company, Reach Orthopaedics, that is on a mission to revolutionize the treatment of MIRCT's with their proprietary implant. It's aim is to end that choice that patients must make between a surgical option that lasts versus a surgical option that restores function, finally giving them, the best of both worlds.

New Wave is produced by Snack Labs. It is narrated Taylor MacGillivary and written by Haeley DiRisio and Taylor MacGillivary. New Wave is edited by, Jeremie Saunders and Taylor MacGillivary from Snack Labs. Music and sound design is by Donovan Morgan. Find out more about Snack Labs at www.wearesnack.io

This series is brought to you by Life Sciences Nova Scotia. LSNS is fuelling innovation and commercial success of the life sciences sector in Nova Scotia by amplifying the ambition of founders and visionaries who aim to change the world through the commercialization of game-changing ideas. Learn more about them at www.lifesciencesnovascotia.ca

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Are the two most dominate meal replacement drinks in the world...actually good for you? On this week's episode, we're diving into, Sperri, a purpose driven nutrition company from Nova Scotia, their mission to disrupt a global duopoly, reduce costs for healthcare systems, and provide people and patients in need the right ingredients, and the right nutrition, to get better.

New Wave is produced by Snack Labs. It is narrated Taylor MacGillivary and written by Haeley DiRisio and Taylor MacGillivary. New Wave is edited by, Jeremie Saunders and Taylor MacGillivary from Snack Labs. Music and sound design is by Donovan Morgan. Find out more about Snack Labs at www.wearesnack.io

This series is brought to you by Life Sciences Nova Scotia. LSNS is fuelling innovation and commercial success of the life sciences sector in Nova Scotia by amplifying the ambition of founders and visionaries who aim to change the world through the commercialization of game-changing ideas. Learn more about them at www.lifesciencesnovascotia.ca

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.