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Lab Rats to UnicornsLRTU Author: John Flavin
Lab Rats to Unicorns is a podcast that aims to demystify the process of creating a great company in life sciences. Under the guidance of our host, John Flavin, you will hear personal stories of creation, be able to understand how great companies are created, and get insights into the many ways that you as an individual can engage in the creation of tomorrows life science companies. From the lab rat, signifying the process of invention and discovery, to the unicorn, signifying market success, there are a thousand players and ways in which people can contribute to the creation of great companies. Language: en Genres: Business, Entrepreneurship, Life Sciences, Science Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it Trailer: |
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Building Life From Scratch with Kate Adamala_e.080
Episode 80
Thursday, 19 February, 2026
In this episode of Lab Rats to Unicorns, John Flavin speaks with Dr. Kate Adamala, a synthetic biologist and University of Minnesota professor whose work explores one of science’s biggest questions: what is life — and can we build it from scratch? As a leader in the International Build-a-Cell Collaboration, Kate is helping drive global efforts to construct synthetic living systems from nonliving components while advancing research across minimal cells, origins-of-life science, and biocomputing.Kate shares how a childhood love of science fiction shaped her path into synthetic biology and explains the idea of “life but not alive,” highlighting how synthetic cells differ from traditional genetic engineering. She also discusses the shift from academic discovery to entrepreneurship through Synlife, the challenges of scaling entirely new biological platforms, and the regulatory questions ahead.The conversation explores how programmable synthetic cells could transform medicine, manufacturing, sustainability, and even space exploration — while raising profound scientific and ethical questions about humanity’s growing ability to design life itself.
