Biotech

From Restoring Sight to Reimagining the Brain, with Max Hodak

From Restoring Sight to Reimagining the Brain, with Max Hodak

Max Hodak, co-founder and CEO of Science.xyz, discusses their revolutionary PRIMA retinal implant, restoring functional vision to the blind. He elaborates on treating the brain as a computational system, unlocking new medical approaches, and explores the broader potential of neural devices—from restoring capabilities to expanding human potential, touching on identity, consciousness, and AI-brain parallels. Science's long-term vision aims to reduce human fragility by repairing, replacing, and upgrading ourselves.

No Priors Ep. 140 | With Benchling Co-Founder and CEO Sajith Wickramasekara

No Priors Ep. 140 | With Benchling Co-Founder and CEO Sajith Wickramasekara

Sajith Wickramasekara, CEO of Benchling, discusses the broken economics of drug development, where high costs and failure rates stifle innovation. He explains how the biotech industry is facing a 'dot com' bust and new competition from China, and argues that AI agents and simulation can provide the solution by making science less artisanal and helping scientists create better molecules through faster, cheaper experiments.

No Priors Ep. 121 | With Chai Discovery Co-Founders Jack Dent and Joshua Meier

No Priors Ep. 121 | With Chai Discovery Co-Founders Jack Dent and Joshua Meier

Chai Discovery's co-founders discuss Chai 2, their new generative AI platform for antibody design. It achieves a nearly 20% hit rate from just 20 computational attempts, a 100-fold improvement over previous methods, signaling a shift from drug discovery to drug engineering.