Introducing Jordyn Lee, Antheia’s Director of Communications
As the newly minted Director of Communications, Jordyn Lee owns the voice of Antheia and all of the ways the brand shows up, from industry conferences to digital content. With a deep background in technical communications and public relations, she brings a passion for scientific storytelling to the forefront during a landmark year, as Antheia moves into commercial operations and unleashes its innovations and voice in new, emboldened ways. Jordyn recently sat down to share her thoughts on communications, creativity, and Antheia’s legacy. How would you describe your career narrative and background? I started my career in public relations on the agency side, which ended up being a great opportunity for exploration and on-the-job education, as I was exposed to a range of different companies and industries. My very first clients were consumer-facing companies in the food and beverage industry and I eventually ended up transitioning to B2B technology, focusing on clients in the big data and security spaces, which was where I really found my stride. I liked the challenge of telling an exciting story about something that was hard to understand and frankly, not all that interesting to 99% of the general public. My interest in these fascinating companies’ corporate stories brought me to New York where I landed at Mission North, my last PR and communications agency where I was introduced to my very first synthetic biology client. It blew my mind, and over time, it became a specialty for me at the agency. I eventually decided to pursue an in-house communications role to get closer to the science and deepen my understanding – first at Amyris and now, at Antheia – a former client whose mission, technology, and team I’ve long believed in. Every day, at Antheia, I have the opportunity to unpack the various aspects of our corporate narrative and develop a strategy to brings that story to the world. I’m constantly learning at Antheia and that’s one of the best things you could ask for from a job. How does creativity play a role in science communications? Creativity is important in communications for every industry but it becomes even more critical in a field like synthetic biology where you’re dealing with concepts and even words that people have never heard of before. You have to look at things from different angles and be extremely intentional about what information is necessary, what can be misconstrued, and what can be stripped away without losing the scientific integrity or accuracy of your story. We recently launched our redesigned website, which allowed us to re-examine our story more closely and bring a sharper focus to areas like our platform and pipeline. It was an exercise in communication but certainly also creativity. What inspired you to say yes to Antheia, and join the team? I was already compelled by the company’s mission and technology from my days of working with Antheia as a client, but I also have immense trust and confidence in the company’s leadership team. Our Head of Strategy and Partnerships, Yen-Hsiang Wang in particular, has been an amazing mentor, friend, and trusted expert on both the science and business sides of synthetic biology. My decision to go in-house was driven by a desire to get closer to the science and Antheia is a place where I’ve been able to do just that. Everyone here is extremely willing to share their time and expertise and there’s a deep sense of collaboration, transparency, and learning woven into the culture. While it feels like a natural part of our ethos, these types of corporate culture attributes have to be built intentionally in order to be successful – that in itself speaks volumes to Antheia’s leadership. Joining the Antheia team was an easy decision – the team is brilliant, the corporate values are aligned with my own, and my role is expansive. It’s been very fulfilling. What would you say makes Antheia a great company? Where to start! I think we’ve all seen the dangers of companies that are bold to a fault and unafraid to put things out into the world, sometimes even before they’re proven. From our R&D team to the business side, the company is extremely humble and simply doesn’t do this. That’s not to understate the brilliance of the work that’s happening here, but we’ve done a great job of letting our science and our impact speak for itself. As a communications professional, it’s a dream to be able to amplify the work coming from this type of a company. Our mission is no small feat but our team is driven and focused in a world where many are vying to claim the spotlight. Antheia’s culture is also really special. Everyone here is truly dedicated to the work and are motivated by the potential that it has for the future. That equates to a deep camaraderie and shared understanding of working hard for the right reasons. Where the tech industry has an antiquated mantra of “move fast and break things,” Antheia is more thoughtful and intentional because the pharma industry – and the patients and healthcare providers that rely on it – is urgently in need of new solutions where failure isn’t an option. How would you describe your role supporting and bolstering Antheia’s mission, especially in such a critical milestone year? I’ve found that science communications too often skews one of two ways: too far in the weeds for many people to understand or so high-level that it loses any meaning at all. This year I’m focused on bringing Antheia’s technology, mission, and vision to life by finding the balance between those two ends of the spectrum, working to be technical, credible, and accurate, in a way that is interesting, visionary, and exciting. My work includes bringing our story to life through our brand, website, content, events, and internal and partner communication to continue evolving our narrative as the company grows. Where do you see Antheia’s greatest communications opportunities and challenges, moving forward? We’re
Introducing Yen-Hsiang Wang, Antheia’s VP of Strategy and Partnerships
As the Vice President of Strategy and Partnerships, Yen-Hsiang Wang is the strategic powerhouse behind Antheia, tasked with bringing its technology and pipeline of products from ideation into realization. As a catalyst for the commercial viability of Antheia’s technology into the pharma world, this scientific innovator-turned-business leader combines his deep bench of scientific expertise in synthetic biology with lessons learned in the business world to drive the company’s success. With some promising announcements on Antheia’s horizon, Yen-Hsiang recently sat down to share his thoughts on technology, innovation, strategy, and how safe workplaces support dynamic company growth. You wear many hats in Antheia – strategy, partnerships and finance – and are responsible for bringing its innovations to life in the commercial space. But you actually began your career as a biologist and engineer. What inspired you to move from research to strategy? I’ve always liked to design things, but I’ve also always been interested in deciphering biology, which is still in my opinion the most sophisticated system ever. I started off my career trajectory in undergrad while working with an economist on a neuroengineering project, where I designed a novel approach to underpin the neural mechanism for strategic thinking in our brain. Even then, I saw myself as an engineer specialized in the field of biology. That work was eventually published in Science, which helped get me into Stanford. It was 2008 when synthetic biology had just started to take off and engineering genetic information and designing proteins or enzymes in all living organisms was becoming more accessible. I was immediately “distracted” – if you can call being fascinated by this amazing field being distracted! – and enamored by the idea that you can take a structural approach to studying and building biology, and that you could even apply it in an effort to improve human wellbeing. However, it was also a period of time where the industry was navigating a better way to commercialize this cutting edge technology. By this point, I knew that I understood the fundamentals and rhythm of R&D, and I knew I could be a good scientist but I was curious to learn more about the business side of synbio. I wondered if I would be able to make a difference in bridging the gap between this technology and its real world applications. That’s what brought me to this point, and it’s what I strive to do. Make a difference by being the person who bridges the gap between business and deep science innovation in synbio. Once I took the leap toward the business side of things, I began experimenting with various business roles at McKinsey and later Tencent, which eventually led to Antheia. One would think that it’s important for people in your role to have a scientific background to truly understand the work. What does bridging the gap between deep science and business look like, in a practical sense, and how do you think your scientific and research background informs it? I’m a believer that everybody’s a scientist. Science is about being inquisitive and reasonable, and thinking through challenges in a structured approach. It’s critical thinking, and collecting and analyzing information before solving problems. What’s particularly important for anyone in this type of role is a desire to learn the science while embracing open and growth mindsets – because the most demanding type of startup is deep science innovation, and it requires all of those things. Working in any scientific field often means that there are many unknowns, but we’re driven toward exploration because we believe that what we’re doing can make the world better. Synthetic biology, machine learning, or quantum computing – you name it; experimentation, failure, and iteration are inherent to all of these fields and critical for driving innovation. It’s apparent to anyone who knows you that this lights you up, and is your passion. Absolutely. I get a lot of energy from those bridging moments where I have to consider our stakeholders, constraints, and opportunities, and within it, find a path forward. It is extremely rewarding to find those ways to make the equation work and bridge both sides – science and business – of innovation. It means our work will make a realistic and tangible impact. That’s the engineer in me – wanting to make the intangible, tangible. I also especially enjoy my role at Antheia because the constant leap between science and business requires almost a holistic, hawk-eyed perspective, and it’s one I’ve carefully honed in myself. As a scientist, you’re trained to think about problems from mostly bottom-up approaches, where you have to amass a lot of research before taking actions. When it comes to business, it is often hypothesis-driven and making decisions with limited, imperfect information. It took a lot of practice to integrate this duality of thinking, switching back and forth between the two perspectives. I find it very helpful and incredibly useful when brainstorming or offering insights to our team, understanding that each of the next-steps come with certain rewards and risks. To me, it is a privilege to drive those strategic decisions and creative solutions, while matching technological progress. What are Antheia’s greatest opportunities? And what are you most passionate about for Antheia’s future along that pathway? Personally, I just love Antheia’s technology so much. I’m a big fan of AI, robotics, and synthetic biology and how it allows us to design something hardcore. I like to point to my fandom of sci-fi films (e.g., Westworld) here, because it’s an imaginative world where innovative technology and biology comes together. What Antheia’s doing is a small piece of a similarly huge puzzle, only, it’s real. We’re engineering yeast, which is one of the tiniest and simplest organisms, and doing so at the cutting edge of a thriving deep science technology, all in a big biology setup. While it can still seem very uncertain, the flipside is that the possibilities are endless. That’s where Antheia’s biggest opportunity lies; we’re sitting within a very unique
Addressing the Drug Shortage Crisis: Transforming Pharma Supply Chains
Drug shortages in the U.S. have become an urgent issue over the last few years. So much so that in 2020, the Administration issued an Executive Order for the U.S. FDA to establish an Essential Medicines List of critical drugs that are deemed medically necessary, with the ultimate goal of identifying ways to protect and provide for the American public’s undisrupted access to these essential medicines. Ultimately, pharmaceutical supply deficits have continued to plague U.S. healthcare systems, with cancer drug shortages being the latest impacting patients. Oncology drug shortages in particular carry dire consequences for cancer patients given the urgency of treatments, leaving many with limited care options. Simultaneously, healthcare providers are being forced to make extraordinarily difficult decisions with the drugs they do have, rationing doses or delaying care in order to balance the needs of their patients with limited supplies. Compromising care and treatments leaves doctors and patients alike in a no-win situation – and one that shouldn’t have happened in the first place. Unsurprisingly, recent shortages have sparked many healthcare professional and patient groups to ask Congress to intervene, leading to the recent introduction of the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Risk Assessment Act. We believe it will be one of many policy efforts to seek solutions, as public discourse continues to build regarding the extreme lengths individuals have gone to secure life-saving medicines. While the request is simple – generate more supplies, and quickly – the solution is not. Pharmaceutical supply chains are extremely complex and face many factors that are easily disrupted and can quickly trigger a drug shortage, including natural disasters, climate change, geopolitical events, and manufacturing facility issues, to name a few. These ever-growing threats and challenges continue to add pressure to the urgent need for innovative and nimble solutions to optimize pharma supply chains, and ensure that the public has reliable access to all critical, essential medications. Antheia was founded in 2015 to address the threat of drug shortages through agile biomanufacturing techniques, and we have witnessed the urgency of realizing our mission with each passing year. Currently, we are working to bring a robust pipeline of Key Starting Materials (KSMs) and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) – the critical components of a medicine that produce the intended effect – to market, across a wide variety of therapeutic areas, including oncology, as well as neurology, respiratory, anti-infective, gastrointestinal, endocrinology, and hematology. Our platform and pipeline are intentionally designed to ensure reliable, consistent, and equitable access to critical drugs, to avert supply disasters by decoupling KSM and API production from current agricultural sourcing, and over time, make drug shortages a problem of the past. Biomanufacturing has the power to transform pharmaceutical supply chains. By leveraging engineered yeast and fermentation-based manufacturing processes that can be activated quickly, on-demand, and potentially anywhere in the world, we can ensure that patients and providers have reliable access to critical medicines. The cancer drug crisis we’re experiencing right now is not the first, but it could be the last if we systematically transform our pharmaceutical supply chains and invest in advanced biomanufacturing technologies. Follow Antheia on LinkedIn and Twitter.
The Natural Synergy Between Synthetic Chemistry and Synthetic Biology
At Antheia, we spend a lot of time talking about synthetic biology due to the nature of our work engineering yeast to produce key starting materials (KSMs) and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for essential medicines. However, synbio’s cousin, the long-established field of synthetic chemistry, plays a vital role. This is the third and final blog in an educational series about synthetic chemistry. If you missed them, you can find part one here, and part two here. As we’ve discussed in this series, synthetic chemistry has long been the backbone of small-molecule drug development. However, certain molecules – either due to their size, configuration, or characteristics – remain difficult or even impossible to synthesize by current synthetic chemistry processes. Drug development and manufacturing is an expensive and arduous process. Limitations of synthetic chemistry can add significantly to the cost and time needed to produce challenging targets, leaving potentially valuable medicines out of reach with current techniques. This means that while current synthetic chemistry approaches to drug development are responsible for the efficient and scalable production of thousands of therapeutics, this process remains limited by what it can achieve alone. The solution to synthetic chemistry’s shortcomings may lie in biosynthesis – the synthesis that occurs naturally in living cells. Is biosynthesis a magic bullet? The goal of drug development is to identify specific compounds with targeted effects. In an ideal scenario, a good drug candidate recognizes its target molecule by binding to it and having a desired effect, such as an agonistic or antagonistic effect on a receptor for example. Determining drug candidates with that level of specificity is no simple task, but when it comes to problem-solving, the natural world is full of solutions. Due to the limitations inherent with synthetic chemistry, only a small portion of the chemical space is accessible for drug development and discovery, therefore limiting pharmaceutical innovation. With biosynthesis, we are able to unlock much more of chemical space and access vast, underexplored opportunities for drug development and discovery. Biology has mastered the art of synthesizing big, complex, and specific molecules. In direct contrast to synthetic chemistry, biosynthesis occurs in the aqueous environment of the cell, opening up a new range of molecules historically underrepresented by synthetic chemistry. Additionally, these living systems have undergone millennia of evolution to produce enzymes that can precisely recognize, bind, and configure molecules with a specificity that synthetic chemists can only dream of. But biology has its own limitations. Evolution is famously a tinkerer and not an engineer. Natural solutions that have evolved are adapted specifically to solve the inherent problems they face. To meet the challenges in modern drug development and ultimately make a meaningful impact on patients, we need to engineer enzymes to perform new reactions, in new environments, and at improved levels of activity. We can achieve just that by combining the best of synthetic chemistry and synthetic biology. The best of both worlds Synthetic biology allows us to re-engineer enzymes to fit our needs. Synbio also unlocks whole organisms as potential production platforms; by engineering pathways for each step of chemical synthesis, we can turn microbes into factories to produce our target molecules using fermentation. Synthetic chemistry, despite its constraints in producing certain types of compounds, will continue to play a major role by adding to the diversity of structures we can access and analyze. Where nature solved problems by evolving chemical solutions, their structures are blueprints that synthetic chemistry processes can complement and enhance. Together, the potential synergy between synthetic chemistry and synthetic biology is enormous. Enzymes engineered specifically to function in synthetic chemistry environments can act as in vitro biocatalysts, adding specificity to synthetic chemistry reactions and potentially reducing costly purification steps. Similarly, synthetic chemistry’s understanding of structure informs which amino acids impact key characteristics of our engineered enzymes, such as rigidity, solubility, and coordination with the substrate. Antibiotics best illustrate the combination of biology and synthetic chemistry coming together. The penicillins used today are not natural products but are the result of chemists tinkering with the original compounds accidentally discovered by Alexander Fleming. The commonly prescribed antibiotic amoxicillin is a prime example – Penicillin G is produced by Penicillium chrysogenum and chemically converted to amoxicillin. These semi-synthetic derivatives allow us to develop new antibiotics effective against pathogenic bacteria that have long ago evolved resistance to their natural counterparts. As antibiotic resistance continues to evolve, it may be necessary to utilize every tool in our biological and chemical arsenal to develop the next generation of antibiotics. Thus, combining synthetic biology and synthetic chemistry opens up new possibilities in biological synthesis and downstream augmentation. This creates a far bigger and more dynamic space for drug discovery, development, and manufacturing. Complementary technology At Antheia, our platform is primarily built around the power of synthetic biology and biosynthesis, and we also leverage other approaches, including chemical synthesis, to make complex molecules – key starting materials (KSMs) and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) – with proven medicinal value and well-established markets. These molecules often have long metabolic pathways and pose a challenge for both biological engineering and synthetic chemistry approaches. Our goal is to transfer these pathways, typically originating from plants, into yeast cells that can be efficiently used as a biomanufacturing platform at industrial scales. Transferring an entire metabolic pathway to another organism comes with several challenges. The major issue from the biosynthesis perspective is that the enzymes did not evolve to function in yeast cells and therefore may be less active in that environment, so we must re-engineer or rebuild certain enzymes to perform in their new host. Evolution optimizes enzymes to perform their required functions in their natural environments. In the lab, we need these enzymes to work in new environments and often to perform new functions, whether that’s working faster, longer, or performing new reactions. We can use evolution as a tool to continue the job of optimizing and improving enzymes for their new roles. We iterate on these improved enzymes until they are capable of
Antheia at SynBioBeta: Leveraging Synthetic Biology to End Drug Shortages
Antheia was a proud sponsor of this year’s Global Synthetic Biology Conference, and participated in two high impact talks designed to share our progress toward transforming pharmaceutical supply chains.
Engineered Yeast Could Reduce Drug Shortages
Brewer’s yeast engineered with synthetic biology to produce drugs or raw materials could transform pharmaceutical supply chains.
Antheia Appoints Heidi Pucel as Chief People Officer
Antheia, a synthetic biology company enabling next-generation plant-inspired medicines, today announced the appointment of Heidi Pucel as its Chief People Officer.
