Thanks for posting this here! And surprising its attracting attention, I have to imagine that the TAM for 2-hour-long biologics-manufacturing podcasts is small :)
If you're more interested in this person's work, his website is here: https://www.iku.bio/
If you want to actually talk with people about some of your thoughts on the industry, I'd recommend just going to a hotel bar, grab a pint, and just spark a conversation.
My main point of skepticism about repurposing is whether this is giving any of new and actionable information. It seems to be reliant on pre existing target annotations, and qualified targets already have molecules designed for them. Is the off-target effect strong enough to give you a superior molecule? Why not just start by picking a qualified target and committing to designing a better molecule without doing all the off target assay stuff first?
I completely agree, but I also think there is some truth to the related statement: 'cancer research often isn't conducted in a way that is actually useful'!
For example, in-vivo tumor experiments in mice can yield completely different results depending on exactly where the tumor was implanted. E.g. a 'lung cancer mouse model' may have the lung cancer injected just under the skin, also known as subcutaneous tumor models, instead of in the lung! Entirely because it's a lot more efficient + yields more trustable data, but the results are often deeply disconnected from how the tumor would naturally grow + respond to drugs within its host organ.
Thanks for your posts! I've been very impressed with your ability to both be at the leading edge of knowledge and communicate the parts that are most interesting for a broad technical audience, it's an impressive skill.
If you're more interested in this person's work, his website is here: https://www.iku.bio/
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