#15 - Adhirath Sikand: Innovation, Democratizing Biotech, and DNA Polymerases

Description: This week's podcast features Adhirath Sikand, biochemist, entrepreneur, and PhD candidate at the University of Southern California Los Angeles. I have deep appreciation for Adhi's experience, in particular because as a scientist, he's worked and studied in three different countries (New Delhi India, Canada and now the USA). His unique viewpoint provides an opportunity to assess the cultural differences between countries and identify opportunities we can integrate into the USA to maintain our leadership position in many areas of science. In addition to having a deep technical background in biochemistry, working on synthetic surfaces in cancer cells, Adhi is also an entrepreneur and leader, serving as BCLA President in 2020. Adhi shares my passion for democratizing access to biotechnology and lowering the barriers to entry for recent graduates and industry outsiders to found new startups. CHAPTERS 0:00 Introduction 3:09 Adhi's Intro & Background 6:31 Science Culture in India 07:41 India as a Biomanufacturing Powerhouse 8:45 Fellowship in Canada 9:19 US Leadership in R&D 11:34 Distrust of Vaccines 12:05 Cultural Influences on Biotech 14:19 Innovation 17:24 Computer Science 20:53 Democratizing Biotech 24:58 Bridging diyBio w/ Professional Biotech 31:02 Low-cost diyBio Tools 37:43 Biotech Coworking 41:00 Community Biolabs 42:30 Real Estate in Biotech 43:20 Biolabs at Lundquist Institute 43:47 BCLA (Biotech Connection Los Angeles) 49:54 Networking in the era of Zoom 53:08 Adhi's Research w/ Bacterial Mutations 56:01 Mechanisms for DNA Mutation 59:51 Polymerases and DNA Repair 1:03:12 Small-molecule Drug Design 1:08:50 Helping Researchers Start Businesses EPISODE LINKS Adhi's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adhi-sikand/ PODCAST INFO iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-everymanbio-podcast/id1535532894 Full episode playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIVGsENI706aYiU7sEj9KymVJMeFhZvdP CONNECT - Subscribe to this YouTube channel - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuamcg... - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everymanbio/ - Website: https://everymanbio.com/ - Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/everymanbio