Nucleate Podcast

Nirmesh Patel describes his path from biomedical research at King’s College and a PhD focused on triple-negative breast cancer to founding CCG AI. He founded the company while finishing his PhD and credits Y Combinator with helping him build a valuable network. After CCG AI was sold, Nirmesh moved from advising startups into venture investing, eventually helping establish Amino Collective. The firm invests early in companies at the intersection of AI, technology, health, and biology, backing ambitious founders across areas such as clinical infrastructure, agentic workflows, and drug discovery.
Nirmesh says he looks for founders who are deeply driven by the problem, move with urgency, and can make a seemingly unconventional opportunity feel inevitable. He also shares practical guidance: prepare carefully for board meetings, use data to inform pivots, ask critical go/no-go questions early, and treat investor feedback as input rather than instruction. He emphasizes that failure is not inherently a black mark; delaying hard decisions or avoiding honesty about them can be more damaging.

Time Stamps
00:00:16 — Upbringing and academic path into biomedical research
00:04:28 — Founding a company during his PhD and balancing it with thesis work
00:11:37 — Transition from founder to investor
00:16:13 — Amino Collective’s investment thesis and “free and radical” founders
00:28:10 — Biotech funding conditions and the outlook for early-stage investment
00:34:10 — Overlooked opportunities in drug discovery, capital allocation, and chemistry
00:37:44 — Founder qualities Patel looks for and advice on pitching
00:42:30 — Making pivots based on evidence and gathering the right data
00:47:37 — Startup setbacks and learning from failure
00:54:13 — Quickfire round and conclusions
 

In this episode we welcome Ann DeWitt, General Partner at Engine Ventures. She introduces Engine Ventures and how it grew out of MIT to back tough tech companies that work across disciplines, beyond the biology and computer science startups that usually draw investors. Ann also explains the programs and resources offered by Engine Ventures to help founders transform their ideas into successful businesses. 
With her VC perspective, Ann covers the importance of clear checkpoints and staged funding for companies with long timelines and heavy capital needs. She discusses why impact has to come first if a financial return is going to follow, offering plenty of advice for founders and early career scientists. Ann shares what it takes to catch an investor's eye when they are deciding which startups to back.

Time Stamps
0:55 Introduction to Ann Dewitt and her transition from scientific research to venture capital 
6:38 Introduction to Engine Ventures 
10:00 What is tough tech and what makes it different from other startups 
16:13 Why investor prioritize “impact”
24:06 Future growth opportunities within the neurology field 
28:47 Common challenges founders face and how to overcome them
33:22 Advice for scientists on building a business perspective 
38:46 Women in biotech 
45:52 Quick fire questions 
 

The Nucleate Podcast welcomes Matias Serebrinsky, co-founder of Psymed Ventures. Raised in Argentina by a physician father and an economist mother, he shares how his early life influenced his comfort with risk and his drive to do work that helps others. Matias shares his path from Sony marketing to starting CookUnity, and eventually to building a venture fund focused on brain and mental health.

The conversation provides a look into the latest trends in neurotech and brain health investing, from psychedelic therapeutics to precision psychiatry and RNA therapies. Matias offers plenty of advice for entrepreneurs on pitching their startup ideas and how to pair technical knowledge with business acumen. Be sure to also check out his podcast, Business Trip, to learn more about the intersection of neuroscience and technology.

Time Stamps
0:38 Introduction to Matias and his early career
8:17 Why he pivoted into the neuroscience industry and medtech
10:06 The investment approach that led to a $1.2B psychedelics deal
18:21 Psymed's lens for evaluating new technologies
27:08 The latest trends across neurology and brain health
34:54 What qualities to look for in a strong scientific founder 
37:58 The Psymed elevator pitch
42:40 Advice for entrepreneurs on how to pitch effectively 
48:07 Introduction to the Business Trip podcast hosted by Matias Serebrinsky and Greg Kubin
50:14 Quick fire questions
 

In this episode of the Nucleate Podcast, Dr. Jo Viney, co-founder, president, and CEO of Seismic Therapeutic, shares her trajectory from academic immunology training in London to major biotech companies and startup leadership. She discusses how early clinical lab exposure to autoimmune patients sparked her passion for translational science and highlights why the Boston ecosystem is an ideal place to launch biotech startups due to its unparalleled funding, incubator space, and collaborative peer networks. She also reflects on the lessons learned from co-funding Pandion Therapeutics—including how following surprising data led to a major asset acquisition by Merck—and describes the bittersweet feeling of handing off a company she helped build.

The conversation then explores Seismic Therapeutic's approach to tackling autoimmune diseases by integrating machine learning into protein drug discovery. Jo details how combining structural biology, machine learning, protein engineering, and immunology allows Seismic to accelerate drug design cycles, optimize enzyme therapeutics, and tackle complex agonist and cell-selective antibody design. She emphasizes that machine learning serves as a powerful tool guided by human hypothesis-driven research rather than a standalone cure-all. Jo closes with practical advice for emerging scientific founders, encouraging them to seek out diverse viewpoints, pressure-test their ideas with critics, and keep patient impact as their true North Star.

Here's a segment breakdown with timestamps:

00:27 – Academic beginnings to Startups
02:05 – International experience shaping perspective
03:03 – Location and choosing Boston
03:53 – Influences, mentors, & successful mentorship
04:54 – Biotech CEO Sisterhood
05:08 – Leading other scientists now
05:78 – Larger pharma versus the smaller biotechs
07:28 – Co-founder at Pandion, drug development, & inspiration to start the company
08:62 – Acquisition of company: success and navigation
10:12 – Initial Conversations
10:86 – Emotionally Tied Science & Company
11:28 – Seismic Therapeutic focus on autoimmune disease
12:73 – Structural biology & prediction technologies emerging
12:58 – Data & Technology 
15:47 – Experiences with AI
15:77 – AI drug discovery engines
16:04 – Founding a company out of a venture creation firm 
17:11 – The Founding Process
17:88 – Fundraising conversations with investors for an academic labs 
18:43 – When to move on from an idea or keep investing
19:24 – Biggest mistakes from lab to startup
19:52 – Rapid Fire Questions
 

Here's a segment breakdown with timestamps:

[0:58 – 1:43] Introduction & Career Background
[1:44 – 7:04] Regulation & the "Daughter Test"
[7:05 – 13:15] From Tech to Biotech: The Pivot
[13:16 – 21:35] AI at Retro & the OpenAI Partnership
[21:36 – 25:20] The 10-Year Lifespan Mission Explained
[25:21 – 33:20] Lead Program: Alzheimer's & Autophagy
[33:21 – 40:00] Broader Pipeline & Company Philosophy
[40:01 – 45:50] Cell Replacement vs. Cell Rejuvenation
[45:51 – 51:55] AI-Designed Transcription Factors & Partial Reprogramming
[51:56 – 54:03] On Biohackers & the DTC Longevity Industry
[54:04 – 56:02] "Whose Lives Are We Extending?" & Closing Thoughts
 

See the episode breakdown with time stamps below:

0:00 – Cold open: the "unexpected collaboration" teaser

0:35 – Growing up in Zimbabwe and an unplanned path into medicine

5:41 – The "9-month detour" into pharma that turned into a 30-year career

20:01 – Learning to lead: finance, business instincts, and the power of asking questions

23:55 – Launching Gleevec — and the patients who make it all worth it

31:21 – Taking the leap: becoming CEO of Millennium and betting big on Velcade

39:41 – Layoffs done right: dignity, trust, and the "milk mustache" story

49:57 – Inside the $8.8B Takeda acquisition and navigating a clash of cultures

1:08:30 – Failure and resilience: Forum Therapeutics and a rocky start at Lundbeck

1:22:48 – The $2.2B Alder bet, boardroom battles over share classes, and closing lessons on culture (plus the rapid-fire round)

Time Stamps:

(3:10) Phillip’s background and how it shaped his character
(6:13) What first sparked his passion for science 
(9:15) What inspired his PhD journey 
(17:35) The discovery of restriction enzymes and DNA synthesis, concerns about DNA manipulation and how NIH guidelines came to be
(25:00) How to communicate your science and translate that knowledge for public benefit
(33:17 The discovery of RNA splicing
(48:40) The founding of Alnylam
(58:10) The creation of the biotech industry 
(1:03:30) How to keep up with the latest science and important trends to watch
(1:12:55) Advice for founders looking to launch their own companies
(1:16:47) Traits to look for in a  mentor and what makes a strong mentor-mentee relationship
(1:19:53) Critical pieces of company culture that drive success
(1:24:59) Quick fire questions

Here is a segment breakdown of the episode: 
0:00–1:42 — Intro and guest background: host frames the episode and introduces Nolan Townsend's career across Wall Street, Pfizer, and Lexeo.
1:42–3:21 — From finance to healthcare: what drew Nolan into life sciences and the appeal of the industry's complexity.
3:21–10:13 — Pfizer's international roles: P&L leadership in Korea, Ukraine, and beyond, and how working across health systems and cultures shaped him.
10:14–19:00 — Rare disease leadership at Pfizer: the tafamidis/TTR amyloid cardiomyopathy story and its influence on Lexeo's founding thesis.
19:00–24:16 — Founding Lexeo in January 2020: the decision to leave Pfizer, launching amid COVID, and building a team remotely.
24:19–37:39 — Lexeo's scientific thesis: applying oncology's precision-medicine model to cardiac disease, the lead pipeline (Friedreich's ataxia, arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy), and the Alzheimer's/APOE program and why it was deprioritized.
37:39–47:20 — Fundraising strategy: de-risking the story, the cooled IPO market, tranche financing, and advice for founders raising seed/Series A rounds.
47:20–50:00 — Mentors: Ron Crystal, Steve Altschuler, Ted Love, and the lessons drawn from each.
50:23–56:04 — Rapid-fire questions: influential book (Clayton Christensen), views on what's holding back broader use of gene therapy, and the most underrated CEO skill.
56:04–57:33 — Closing question (life outside biotech) and sign-off.

Time Stamps:

0:45 Introduction to Dana Aftab and what sparked his passion for science

6:39 His Ph.D. experience at Yale that led to a breakthrough in compound screening

16:15 Why that soured him on biotech and what ultimately drew him back in

24:33 Navigating the transition into industry by trusting his gut

30:09 The Exelixis-MetaXen acquisition

37:18 Taking the lead as a helping guide to younger scientist

41:00 What does it take to be a good manager 

48:45 Discovery and development of CABOMETYX® (cabozantinib)

57:15 How differentiating clinical data changed the trajectory of Exelixis 

1:00:34 Navigating the restructuring process

1:07:13 Rebuilding the Exelixis team

1:11:26 His return to science 

1:13:30 Advice for founders on what makes a strong potential partner

1:20:07 Quick fire questions

(0:53) Introduction to Stephanie’s passion for science and her career transition from research to business