Careers in Discovery

In this episode, Andrea Braun-Scherhag, SVP and Global Head of Regulatory Affairs & Safety at Autolus, breaks down what it really takes to bring breakthrough therapies to market, especially when there’s no established playbook. From securing rapid global approvals to navigating entirely new pathways in cell and gene therapy, she shares why regulatory sits at the centre of Biotech success.

Andrea challenges the common perc...

What does it really take to progress from bench science to leading a Biotech platform as Chief Scientific Officer?

In this episode of Careers in Discovery, Daniel Tardiff, CSO at Camp4 Therapeutics, shares a candid look at building and scaling science inside an early‑stage biotech. From his foundations in RNA biology to advancing antisense programmes for haploinsufficiency-driven neurodevelopmental disorders, Dan unpacks how transl...

In this episode of Careers in Discovery, Adrian Gabriel Torres, Chief Scientific Officer at Aptadel Therapeutics, talks about developing RNA aptamer–based cancer therapies and leading scientific strategy in a preclinical biotech start-up. Adrian also shares his journey from academic research into industry, reflecting on the differences between academia and biotech, learning new skill sets, managing teams, and making career de...

This week on Careers on Discovery, we’re joined by Rachel Abbott, CEO of Pan Cancer T.

Rachel shares her journey from academic science into biotech leadership, reflecting on the pivotal moments that shaped her career - from early setbacks at university to working on T‑cell therapies that reached patients, and ultimately stepping into a first‑time CEO role. We discuss Pan Cancer T’s work developing next‑generation T‑cell...

This week on Careers in Discovery, we’re joined by Ignacio Moraga, CSO and co‑founder of TECRegen.

Ignacio shares his journey from Madrid to the Pasteur Institute, Stanford and Dundee, and now into biotech entrepreneurship. We talk about his work regenerating the thymus to rejuvenate the immune system, the science that inspired TECRegen, and the emerging opportunities in healthy ageing and immunotherapy.

He also reflects on n...

This week on Careers in Discovery, we’re joined by Sarah Almond, VP of Translational Biology at NRG Therapeutics.

Sarah shares her journey from early lab work to leading translational science on a first in class neurodegeneration programme. We talk about the serendipity that shaped her career, the importance of early hands-on experience, and how redundancies opened unexpected doors.

Sarah reflects on leadership; from learnin...

This week on Careers in Discovery, we’re joined by Jonathan Levenson, CSO at FireCyte Therapeutics. Jonathan shares his unconventional journey from early curiosity about biology to a career spanning neuroscience research, Biotech innovation, and scientific leadership.

We explore his transition from academia to industry, the lessons he learned building discovery platforms and leading translational programs, and how embracing s...

From academic deep‑tech to the front lines of Biotech entrepreneurship - Eline Koers’ journey is a masterclass in courage, clarity, and reinvention.

After years immersed in structural biology and membrane protein folding, Eline realised she wanted her work to have real‑world impact. That shift pulled her out of academia, into translational science, and eventually into founding AAB Therapeutics - a company engineering extracel...

In this episode of Careers in Discovery, Tyler is joined by Marc Damelin, Chief Scientific Officer at Alphina Therapeutics.

Marc shares his journey from physics undergraduate to Biotech leader, and how a love of problem‑solving gradually drew him from yeast genetics into human disease and ultimately into drug development. After a decade in big pharma working on antibody–drug conjugates, he steps into Biotech leadership, first...

From Romania to Roche to cutting-edge Biotech, Roxana Dreghici has carved out a remarkable career in drug development - and she’s done it with grit, clarity and the courage to leap into the unknown.

Now VP of Musculoskeletal at Edgewise Therapeutics, Roxana shares the pivotal moments that shaped her journey: from her early days coordinating clinical trials in Texas, to building a name for herself in global pharma, and ultimat...

This week on Careers in Discovery, we’re joined by Peter Hamley, Founder and CEO of Scripta Therapeutics. 

Peter didn’t follow the typical founder path. After a long and successful career in big pharma R&D and business development, he made the leap into Biotech with a mission: to unlock the potential of transcription factors in treating neurodegenerative diseases. What followed was a complete min...

Kathryn Golden didn’t set out to be a scientist. In fact, she made her parents promise she wouldn’t have to become one when she enrolled at a science-focused high school. But a chemistry class changed everything, setting her on a path from MIT’s bioprocessing labs to senior leadership roles in Biotech and pharma. 

Now VP of Technical Operations at Ottimo Pharma and co-founder of Sunflower Therapeutics, Kathry...

Ofer Haviv didn’t take the usual route into Biotech. With a background in economics and finance, he began his career far from the lab - but a long-standing passion for biology brought him back to science in an unexpected way. 

Now CEO of Evogene, Ofer shares how he moved from CFO to spinning out a company at the intersection of AI and biology, building platforms to discover small molecule therapeutics and agricultural in...

Sylke Poehling didn’t set out to lead one of the world’s most advanced gene therapy companies - but a love for drug discovery and a career built on curiosity, courage and conviction brought her there. 

Now CEO of Spark Therapeutics and SVP at Roche, Sylke joins us on Careers in Discovery to share her journey from academia into Biotech, how Spark pioneered the world’s first FDA-approved directly administered g...

What does it take to build a Biotech from scratch - with no data, no academic spinout, and nothing but two founders and two laptops?

In this episode of Careers in Discovery, we’re joined by Federico Paoletti, CEO & Co-founder of Exogene, to find out.

Federico shares the story of how he went from a PhD in cancer biology to co-founding an Oxford-based immuno-oncology Biotech, working at the intersection of AI and protein en...

We're bringing you something a little bit different this week...

After 6 years and almost 200 episodes of Careers in Discovery, Singular CEO Tom Froggatt is passing the torch to a new host - and we're delighted to introduce Tyler Olding.

In this episode, the tables have turned, and the transition begins with - for the first time - an interview with Tom himself. Listen in to learn more about the brilliant career that has been behind...

From the moment he walked out of a cinema showing Jurassic Park aged 10, Samir Ounzain knew he wanted to work with DNA. That early obsession turned into a career dedicated to understanding the 98% of our genome that doesn’t code for proteins - what’s often referred to as the “dark genome.”

In this episode, Samir shares the personal and scientific journey that led to founding HAYA Therapeutics, a Biotech trai...

When it comes to brain health, few people have dedicated more of their career to pushing the field forward than Rafal Kaminski, Chief Scientific Officer at Angelini Pharma.

In this episode of Careers in Discovery, Rafal shares the journey that’s taken him from medical school in Poland to leading R&D efforts across UCB, Roche, and now Angelini. Along the way, we explore his deep commitment to neuroscience, the lessons of b...

This week on Careers in Discovery, we’re joined by Martin Brenner, CEO and CSO of iBio and one of Biotech’s most experienced R&D leaders.

Martin shares his journey from pharmacologist to global R&D executive, with leadership roles at Pfenex, Recursion, AstraZeneca, and Stoke Therapeutics. Now at iBio, he leads a company developing gene therapies for rare diseases - while applying lessons from decades of drug dev...