The Future of Food and Health

iSelect Venture Associate Tom Bunn is joined by Dr. Brianna Stubbs of Buck Institute for Research on Aging, Dr. Thomas Perls, Director, New England Centenarian Study and Professor of Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine and Dr. Christopher Rhodes of Davis, California Startup, Innate Biology.

Research over the past few decades on aging and longevity has come to the surprising revelation that aging is a disease in and of i...

From fruits and vegetables, to tree nuts and flowers, specialty crops are different from other agricultural products. For one thing they are typically sold at a premium, due to their higher nutritional value and better taste. At the same time, they represent the next stage in development of the agricultural system, bringing these products to a wider range of potential customers and at lower cost.

Listen to the second in our two-part...

Synthetic DNA is used in many cutting edge technologies from industrial biotech, to medicine, agriculture and beyond. However, synthetic DNA's potential has not been fully realized due to the inefficient, 30+ year old method of chemically synthesizing DNA. The current process is limited in output to relatively short DNA sequences and its purity is often less than ideal. In contrast, iSelect portfolio company, Molecular Assemblies, ...

Specialty crops represent a unique class of crops and derived food products, from fruits and vegetables to tree nuts and flowers. The products produced by this industry make up a significant portion of U.S. agricultural output and represent a diverse and important source of high quality nutrition as well.

Listen to the first in a two-part series examining the nuances of the specialty crop industry. In Part 1, we will focus on the in...

Value-based care is a healthcare delivery model in which providers are paid based on health outcomes and the quality of care rendered, rather than for specific services. Under this model, the quality of care supersedes the quantity of services provided.

On this episode, we will examine where value-based care has been successful and discuss the challenges and opportunities with its continued adoption. Our panelists will include Blak...

Healthy soil is at the root of food quality and yield, and soil carbon is a key component of healthy soil. In fact, as the main component of soil organic matter, it is carbon that gives soil its water-retention capacity, its structure and its fertility. Interest in understanding and measuring soil carbon has increased not only as a means of improved agricultural outcomes, but to also potentially store significant quantities of atmo...

In 2019 over 600,000 people died from cancer in the United States alone.

One of the primary drivers behind these high mortality rates for cancer is late diagnosis. For this reason, we’re seeing increasing demand for noninvasive methods to detect cancer easily and at earlier stages. In this podcast, we explore and analyze different methods for noninvasive cancer de...

Many of the major medical conditions that we face in our lives share an underlying cause: chronic inflammation.

In fact, it’s the single largest driver of disease and disability. For years, therapies have been aimed at treating the symptoms of chronic inflammation, but existing therapies do not act to prevent disease progression or directly treat the disease pathway without severely impacting the immune system.

There stands a large...

iSelect hosts a Deep Dive webinar on a novel innovation topic on the first and third Wednesdays of each month at 9 a.m. central. Our most recent session focused on early cancer diagnosis using blood-based tools. Testing patients for cancer has typically involved a tissue biopsy — collecting the cells in question for closer examination. However, these tests can be invasive, risky, costly, and painful. Liquid biopsies, on the other h...

iSelect managing director Mark McCall recently participated in a panel discussion at the Family Office Impact Summit at the United Nations headquarters in New York. Hosted by Gitterman Wealth Management, Family Office Insights and 5th Element Group, the event was a private gathering of 250 Family Office, ESG, Impact, and Climate Change Experts to discuss the relationship between private capital and positive social change. Mark was ...

iSelect hosts a Deep Dive webinar on a novel innovation topic on the first and third Wednesdays of each month at 9 a.m. central. Our most recent session focused on digital product development for food and beverage companies and how, among the world’s largest food companies, more than half of revenue is generated by products that have been introduced in the last five years. Many food producers are now using digital technology to sta...