In this episode of The Chain, host Tariq Ghayur, PhD, Tariq Ghayur Consulting, LLC, talks with Pamela Barney, former associate director of HR, AbbVie, about her career within biotech/pharma organizations and some key lessons learned, such as taking advantage of your contacts and network, managing diverse workforces, and HR’s role in creating an engaged team. Barney also discusses why she entered the HR field and the challenges of culture changes when transitioning from a small organization to a large company. 

AbbVie: https://www.abbvie.com/  

In this episode of The Chain, host Brandon DeKosky, associate professor, speaks with MIT colleague Jessica Stark, Underwood-Prescott career development professor, about glycans and why they are important in cancer research. Stark discusses how she became interested in immunology, what her PhD and post-doctoral training was like, her thoughts on singlets operating as part of a network of checkpoint molecules, and what’s currently going on in glycobiology. She also talks about her keynote presentation at PEGS 2025 and what her new lab is working on. 

LINKS:
MIT Department of Chemical Engineering
MIT Department of Biological Engineering
MIT 

March 11, 2025 | In this episode of The Chain, host Andrew Buchanan, principal scientist at AstraZeneca, and Andreas Plückthun, professor and head of biochemistry at the University of Zurich, discuss AI/ML technologies in the antibody and protein engineering space. Plückthun shares his perspectives on what technologies show promise and success, why the definition of epitope is important when developing a drug, and what aspects he expects to improve in the ML field in the future. 

February 21, 2025 | This episode marks the 50th anniversary of one of the most influential papers in biomedical science—the 1975 Milstein and Köhler paper on hybridoma technology, which paved the way for monoclonal antibodies. Ralph Minter, Biotech CSO/CTO, discusses this important milestone with a true pioneer in the field, Sir Greg Winter, Nobel Laureate and one of the key figures in the development of therapeutic antibodies. 

In this episode of The Chain, host Andrew Bradbury, CSO of Specifica, an IQVIA business, speaks with Randolph Lopez, CTO and co-founder of A-Alpha Bio, about how A-Alpha Bio is changing the game of protein-protein interactions with their platform AlphaSeq. Lopez delves into the origins, the process, the successes, and the possibilities of the company’s platform and how it can help with epitope mapping, affinity predictions, and off-target binding. With the data the platform generates, Lopez also discusses how this affects the potential of AI and ML. 

LINKS:    
Bionavigen
A-Alpha Bio
Specifica 

November 12, 2024 | In this episode of The Chain, host Rakesh Dixit, PhD, DABT, president and founder of Bionavigen Oncology and Regio Biosciences, speaks with Anthony Tolcher, M.D., FRCPC, cofounder of NEXT Oncology, about antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) including the role of the bystander effect, approaching targets in oncology, dual-payload technologies, the potency of new payloads, and bispecific targeting. Tolcher also shares what inspired him to pursue oncology, how he came across ADCs, and where he sees ADCs heading in the future.        

LINKS:    
Bionavigen 
NEXT Oncology 

October 15, 2024 | In this month’s episode of The Chain, host Rakesh Dixit, PhD, DABT, president and founder of Bionavigen Oncology and Regio Biosciences, and John Lambert, PhD, consultant, about antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) then, now, and beyond. Lambert shares his experiences from his decades-long career at ImmunoGen, why ADCs are more successful now compared to in the past, and where he sees ADCs going forward. He also discusses his thoughts on the half-life of diffusible payloads, the toxicity of the bystander effect, and more.  

LINKS:
Bionavigen
ImmunoGen 

September 10, 2024 | In this episode of The Chain, host Nimish Gera speaks with Tariq Ghayur, of Tariq Ghayur Consulting, LLC and Entrepreneur in Residence, FairJourney Biologics (and a fellow host of the podcast), about the current renaissance of bispecifics and ADCs, the impact of AI in pharmaceuticals, and what to watch out for in the biopharma space in the next few years. Ghayur also shares his journey from BASF Pharma to AbbVie, what it was like when the industry shifted its focus from small molecules to biologics, and the major differences between doing a postdoc in academia versus in the industry. 

In this episode of The Chain, host Nimish Gera, Ph.D., vice president of biologics at Mythic Therapeutics, speaks with Peyton Greenside, CSO and co-founder of BigHat Biosciences, about the role of AI and machine learning in antibody engineering and targeting complex modalities, including bispecifics and ADCs. Greenside also discusses the work her organization does, what BigHat is doing to ensure the quality of data to train their AI models with, the methods of approaching harder targets such as GPCRs, and certain properties that AI can optimize better. 

In this episode of The Chain, host Brandon DeKosky, associate professor at MIT, speaks with Andrew Kruse, PhD, professor of biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology at Harvard University, about protein signaling and structural biology. Kruse explains what exactly bias signaling is and discusses the problems he and his team are working to resolve, as well as the tools they use to work out the dynamics of structures. He also shares the findings in signaling receptors and biology that he’s most excited about, recent advancements that have caught his attention, and the new directions for him and his lab.