Episode 03: George Church

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Dr. George Church, is a genetics professor at Harvard Medical School and the Wyss Institute. George is a pioneer in synthetic biology and personalized genomics. In 2017, Time magazine named him as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. In addition to being a scientist, George is also a prolific serial entrepreneur. He has co-founded over 50 biotech startups through his lab at Harvard. George also serves as a Faculty Advisor for the Harvard Biotech Club.

In this episode,

• George shares his career path to become a professor at Harvard Medical School and the Wyss Institute, where his lab focuses on various topics related to synthetic biology.

• George discusses his work on developing genome sequencing methods during his PhD and its impact on the Human Genome Project.

• George discusses the development of genome editing methods and how his lab and other pioneers developed CRISPR systems as a genome editing modality, and eventually co-founded Editas.

• George reflects on his philosophy for conducting research and how he likes to “embrace the outliers” when it comes to science and life in general.

• George shares his insights on entrepreneurship and we discuss how Colossal Biosciences seeks to use de-extinction (e.g., woolly mammoth, dodo bird, dire wolf) to increase Earth’s biodiversity.

• George shares his hobbies, such as his passion for reading and interests he picked up later in life, such as art and photography.

Read George's Book "Regenesis"

Learn more about George Church

Co-Hosts: Yossef Baidi & Fang Xie

Planning: Yossef Baidi

Post-production: Yossef Baidi