In this week’s episode of the Xtalks Life Science Podcast, host Ayesha Rashid, Senior Life Science Journalist at Xtalks, spoke with Elizabeth Jeffords, CEO, Iolyx Therapeutics, which is developing targeted therapies to address inflammation in ocular disease.

Elizabeth is a seasoned biotech leader with experience spanning company building, fundraising, clinical development, major product launches and a >$9 billion global P&L.

Before Iolyx, she served as Chief Commercial & Strategy Officer at Alkahest and held leadership roles at Genentech and Roche. An angel investor with Portfolia, she serves on several boards, including the boards of Iolyx, Ashvattha and Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO).

Elizabeth holds a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Biology & Management from Yale and a Masters of Business & Technology from UNSW, Australia, which she attended as a Fulbright Scholar.

Tune in to learn more about addressing inflammation in ocular diseases such as dry eye disease and more.

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In this week’s episode of the Xtalks Life Science Podcast, host Ayesha Rashid, Senior Life Science Journalist at Xtalks, spoke with Ben Hwang, PhD, Chairman and CEO of Profusa, Inc., a company developing a platform of new generation bioengineered, biointegrated sensors for the real-time, continuous monitoring of body chemistry for chronic disease management and health.

The sensors detect and continuously transmit medical-grade data for personal and medical use.

Dr. Hwang has served as Profusa’s Chairman of the Board and CEO since January 2012. Prior to Profusa, Dr. Hwang served in a variety of leadership roles at Life Technologies Corp. (acquired by Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.), including President of the Asia Pacific Region and Head of the qPCR Division. Prior to joining Life Technology, Dr. Hwang was a consultant with McKinsey & Company.

Dr. Hwang received his MA in Biology and PhD in Biology from The Johns Hopkins University.

Tune in to learn more about how innovative, medical-based approaches in continuous health monitoring can help manage health and chronic diseases such as diabetes.

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In this week’s episode of the Xtalks Life Science Podcast, host Ayesha Rashid, Senior Life Science Journalist at Xtalks, spoke with Sharon Rosenzweig-Lipson, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) at Life Biosciences, a company advancing cellular rejuvenation gene therapies to treat age-related diseases.

The company is targeting eye diseases like glaucoma and non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION).

Dr. Rosenzweig-Lipson has held leadership positions in both big pharma and small biotechnology companies over the course of her 30+ year career, which has included roles at American Cyanamid (now Pfizer), advancing programs from the early exploratory phase through to Phase IIB. Afterwards, she spent the next 12 years at AgeneBio where she served as Vice President of R&D.

Dr. Rosenzweig-Lipson is globally recognized for her scientific and strategic leadership, having led global translational alliances. She received her BA in the biological basis of behavior from the University of Pennsylvania and her PhD in psychology (in behavioral neuroscience) from Harvard University.

Tune in to hear about novel approaches designed to reverse cellular aging, including Life Bioscience’s work in advancing a first-of-its kind gene therapy.

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In this week’s episode of the Xtalks Life Science Podcast, host Ayesha Rashid, Senior Life Science Journalist at Xtalks, spoke with Andrew Menzies-Gow, MBBS, PhD, Vice President Respiratory & Immunology, Global Biopharmaceuticals Medical, AstraZeneca, about innovations in respiratory and immunology drug development.

Dr. Menzies-Gow is an expert in respiratory biologics and severe asthma research with a prolific career in respiratory medicine, combining his background as a practicing clinician with strategic leadership to advance innovative therapies that address some of the greatest unmet needs in the field.

Under his leadership at AstraZeneca, the company has delivered groundbreaking studies that have shaped clinical guidelines and improved standards of care globally.

Dr. Menzies-Gow has a medical degree from St George’s Hospital Medical School in London and a PhD in eosinophil biology from the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College. He has served as Chair of the NICE guideline development group for Asthma: Diagnosis and Monitoring, and as National Clinical Director for Respiratory Disease for NHS England.

Tune in to hear about AstraZeneca’s vision in the respiratory and immunology space, the innovations shaping the future of care and how global strategies are translating into real-world impact for patients.

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In this week’s episode of the Xtalks Life Science Podcast, host Ayesha Rashid, Senior Life Science Journalist at Xtalks, spoke with Peter Vanderklish, PhD, chief scientific officer at Spinogenix, a company developing therapeutics aimed at restoring synaptic connections for conditions such as ALS, Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia and Fragile X syndrome.

Dr. Vanderklish’s decades of research, from his graduate work at UC Irvine to his roles at The Scripps Research Institute and UC Irvine, have helped shape our understanding of synaptic function, including post-synaptic long-term potentiation (LTP) mechanisms and the role of integrins in stabilizing synaptic structure. His more recent work focuses on dendritic spine abnormalities in Fragile X syndrome and how these changes relate to chronic anxiety and social avoidance behaviors.

Dr. Vanderklish is an Associate Professor in Neuroscience at The Scripps Research Institute and a Visiting Professor in Anatomy and Neurobiology at UC Irvine.

Tune in to learn how Spinogenix is advancing novel therapies designed to rebuild synapses and transform treatment for neurological diseases.

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In this week’s episode of the Xtalks Life Science Podcast, host Ayesha Rashid, Senior Life Science Journalist at Xtalks, spoke with Pol Boudes, MD, Chief Medical Officer at Rectify Pharma.

Rectify Pharma is a biotechnology company pioneering a positive functional modulators (PFM) platform to address the root causes of genetic and protein folding diseases in the liver, cardio-renal-metabolic and neurodegenerative spaces. The company’s lead program is in hepatobiliary diseases.

Dr. Boudes has more than 30 years of R&D, clinical, medical affairs and biotech leadership experience. He is a board-certified physician in endocrinology and metabolic diseases with specialization in internal medicine and geriatric diseases.

Before joining Rectify, Dr. Boudes served as Chief Medical Officer at Galectin Therapeutics and CymaBay Therapeutics, leading pipeline programs and supporting multiple financings. At Amicus Therapeutics, Dr. Boudes pioneered chaperone therapies for lysosomal storage disorders.

Earlier in his career, he held senior international positions at Bayer, Wyeth-Ayerst Research (now Pfizer) and Roche, and he currently serves on the board of Protalix Biotherapeutics. Dr. Boudes received his MD from the University of Marseille, France.

Tune in to hear about how innovation in hepatobiliary diseases is gaining new momentum, driven by novel approaches to correcting protein misfolding at its source.

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In this week’s episode of the Xtalks Life Science Podcast, host Ayesha Rashid, Senior Life Science Journalist at Xtalks, spoke with Mike Denne, PharmD, Vice President of US Medical Affairs for Rare Disease and Plasma Derived Therapies at Takeda, to discuss the company’s approach to advancing patient care in the area of rare diseases through medical innovation and collaboration.

With over 15 years of leadership experience in medical affairs, Dr. Denne shares his insights on building effective and successful medical teams, including supporting healthcare providers and improving access to therapies for rare disease communities.

His experience in the field spans senior leadership of multiple therapeutic areas, product launch, building and leading field medical teams and medical operations.

Dr. Denne is passionate about advancing science and education, particularly in diseases where efforts are incrementally impactful for healthcare providers, patients and caregivers who are impacted by them.

Tune in to hear how Takeda’s US medical affairs team is helping shape the future of rare disease treatment innovation, access, education and patient engagement.

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In this week’s episode of the Xtalks Life Science Podcast, host Ayesha Rashid, Senior Life Science Journalist at Xtalks.com, welcomes Mike Exton, PhD, CEO of Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, for a conversation about leveraging gene science to develop innovative medicines for serious chronic conditions.

Dr. Exton discusses Lexicon’s growing pipeline, which includes promising therapies for diabetic peripheral neuropathic pain, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and other cardiometabolic diseases, areas where unmet need remains high despite decades of research.

He also shares insights from his extensive leadership experience across the pharmaceutical industry, including his time as Cardiometabolism Therapeutic Head at Novartis, and how those experiences are shaping his vision for Lexicon’s next chapter of growth.

Prior to joining Novartis, Dr. Exton was director of business development with Invida Pty Ltd and spent nine years with Eli Lilly Australia, where he held a variety of research, business development and sales positions.

Dr. Exton has served as CEO and a director at Lexicon Pharmaceuticals since July 2024. Dr. Exton has a BSc and a PhD in neuroscience from the University of Newcastle and a PhD in immunology from the University of Essen, Germany.

Tune in to hear how Lexicon is advancing precision-driven approaches to transform treatment outcomes in diabetes, pain management and heart disease, and how gene science continues to redefine possibilities in chronic disease therapeutics.

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In this week’s episode of the Xtalks Life Science Podcast, host Ayesha Rashid, Senior Life Science Journalist at Xtalks.com, spoke with R. Nolan Townsend, MBA, CEO of Lexeo Therapeutics, a company developing gene therapies for cardiovascular diseases as well as CNS disorders including Alzheimer’s disease.

Lexeo recently announced a partnership to advance cardiac RNA therapeutics as well as $80 million in equity financing.

Mr. Townsend has been CEO of Lexeo Therapeutics since 2020. He previously held senior leadership roles at Pfizer, including President of Rare Disease for both North America and International markets, and began his career in healthcare investment banking at Lehman Brothers. He currently also serves on several boards, including Arbor Biotechnologies, the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) and the Martha’s Vineyard Museum. He is also a member of the New York City Economic Development Corporation’s Life Sciences Advisory Council.

Mr. Townsend received his MBA from the Harvard Business School and his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania.

Tune in to hear how Lexeo is shaping the future of genetic medicines under Mr. Townsend’s leadership.

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In this week’s episode of the Xtalks Life Science Podcast, host Ayesha Rashid, Senior Life Science Journalist at Xtalks.com, spoke with Juan Domínguez-Bendala, PhD, Director of Stem Cell and Pancreatic Regeneration Programs, Diabetes Research Institute (DRI) at the University of Miami, to discuss his research team’s new research published in Nature Communications that could redefine diabetes treatment.

Dr. Domínguez-Bendala team’s study reveals how THR-123, a small peptide, can trigger the regeneration of insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas, effectively restoring normal blood sugar levels in preclinical models. The discovery opens the door to a potential new class of regenerative therapies for insulin-dependent diabetes, offering hope for millions of patients worldwide.

Dr. Domínguez-Bendala’s scientific journey includes a PhD he earned under Dr. Jim McWhir, co-creator of Dolly the sheep, to pioneering research in human embryonic stem cells at the University of Miami’s Diabetes Research Institute, where he now leads his own lab and chairs the university’s Embryonic Stem Cell Research Oversight (ESCRO) Committee.

Tune in to hear how Dr. Domínguez-Bendala’s team’s findings could change the way we think about diabetes and the promise of teaching the pancreas to heal itself.

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