Beyond Biotech - the podcast from Labiotech

Today we welcome Dr. Daniel Vitt, CEO of Immunic Therapeutics. 
With World MS Day being tomorrow, the 30th of May, this is the perfect moment to focus on multiple sclerosis — a disease that affects nearly three million people worldwide and still leaves many patients searching for better options.
In today’s episode Daniel shares his own journey into biotechnology, walk us through what life with MS really looks like for patients, and explain the science behind Immunic’s most advanced program, IMU-838. We discuss what makes Immunic’s oral therapy different from today’s treatments, uncover the latest data from the CALLIPER and ENSURE trials, and talk about what the future of MS care could look like.
01:22 Meet Daniel Vitt
04:54 Understanding multiple sclerosis
07:53 Evolution of the MS treatment landscape
12:08 Immunic’s lead MS therapy explained
22:57 World MS Day and what's next for Immunic
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To dive deeper into the topic: 
11 neuroscience biotech companies you should know about
The emergence of BTK inhibitors in multiple sclerosis treatment: Companies close in on approval
Six biotech companies advancing multiple sclerosis therapies

Today I am welcoming two guests: Quin Wills, CEO of Ochre Bio, a biotech developing RNA therapies for chronic liver disease using AI models, and Stéphane Barges, CEO of Lexogen, an RNA transcriptomics company and NGS service provider. It’s a deep dive into cutting edge transcriptomics, human-first data, and artificial intelligence.
00:55: The challenges of liver disease
04:44: How Lexogen supports NGS drug discovery
07:29: Major transcriptomics developments
10:05: Designing high quality AI data
15:47: How the Ochre-Lexogen partnership began
17:17: Why a specialist partner is essential for scale
18:21: Lexogen delivers on the massive sequencing project
21:50: Why high quality data is crucial
27:02: Lexogen's role in AI discovery
34:51: Future plans and directions
This episode was produced with the support of Lexogen. Interested in being a sponsor of an episode of our podcast? Discover how you can get involved here! 
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To dive deeper into the topic: 
Deep phenotyping brings accuracy to precision medicine
Spatial Transcriptomics: A window into disease
Spatial Transcriptomics Landscape Shifts With Two Major Acquisitions

Today, we're digging into a topic that's getting a lot more attention lately, how early decisions in cell therapy end up shaping or complicating everything that comes later. Our episode today is Freeze Variability, Not Progress, How to Strengthen Your Cell Therapy Supply Chain from the Start, and we're going to challenge a few long-held beliefs about how starting material should be handled. 
My guest today is Dominic Clarke, Vice President of Technical Operations for IntegriCell at Cryoport Systems. Dominic has spent years in the trenches building and scaling cell therapy processes from early development through commercialization. So, he's seen where things break and what actually works. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Dominic Clark.
01:07    Meet Dominic Clarke and Cryoport Systems
06:24   Fresh cells versus frozen cells
08:21    Why teams switch to cryopreservation late
12:37    The challenge of variability
16:47    IntegriCell when you already have a process in place
22:17    An argument for cryopreservation based on data
25:56   The future of IntegriCell and Cryoport Systems
This episode is brought to you with the support of Cryoport Systems.
Interested in being a sponsor of an episode of our podcast? Discover how you can get involved here! 
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To dive deeper into the topic: 
IntegriCell® Cryopreservation
Cryoport Systems on the state of the ATMP market and the importance of supply chain resilience
Cracking the code: Delivering biotherapeutics successfully across EMEA

Today, we dive into the future of lab management with Ryan Cawood, CEO and co-founder of Lab Thread. Ryan's journey spans groundbreaking work in virotherapy and gene delivery during his D.Phil at Oxford, to founding OXGENE, a cell and gene therapy innovator acquired by WuXi Advanced Therapies in 2021.
We'll explore the frustrations of fragmented lab tools that inspired Lab Thread's integrated digital solution—combining ELN, LIMS, molecular biology, and collaboration in one seamless platform. We’ll uncover how it boosts reproducibility, ensures compliance, and frees scientists for innovation, with accessible pricing for academics and biotechs.
I hope you enjoy Ryan’s insights on evolving digital workflows and accelerating breakthroughs in the lab.
01:51: Meet Ryan Cawood
02:31: Frustrations with early digital tools.
03:19: Daily lab organization challenges.
06:50: Time lost to admin tasks.
11:09: Genesis of the Lab Thread concept.
13:53: Integrated workflow functionality explained.
17:23: Enhancing experiment reproducibility methods.
20:37: Achieving compliance standards easily.
26:10: The future of digital lab management.
28:33: Accelerating scientific breakthroughs.
This episode is brought to you with the support of Lab Thread.
Interested in being a sponsor of an episode of our podcast? Discover how you can get involved here! 
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To dive deeper into the topic: 
Lab Thread - Your Lab, Connected
Hiding in plain sight: how to solve bioscience’s software problem
Lab chaos and digital dreams

This week we dive into the Beyond Biotech archive to bring you a discussion with Dr Stanley Qi, the founder of Epicrispr.
Epicrispr is an epigenetic editing company, leveraging the power of CRISPR without cutting DNA. The company’s proprietary Gene Expression Modulation System (GEMS) includes the smallest Cas protein known to work in human cells, enabling in vivo or ex vivo delivery via a single viral vector. 
In this episode we discuss epigenetic editing, why it’s reversible, and how it can treat FSHD and other conditions. 
01:43 Meet Stanley Qi
03:32 Founding Epicrispr
05:53 CRISPR interference and epigenome explained
10:04 Overview of GEMS gene modulation system
11:28 Reversibility and safety of epigenetic edits
18:42 Strategy for tackling multiple disease conditions
23:27 Clinical trial plans for EPI-321 candidate
30:06 Looking forward
This episode is brought to you with the support of MedChemExpress.
Interested in being a sponsor of an episode of our podcast? Discover how you can get involved here! 
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To dive deeper into the topic: 
Could CRISPR really cure these diseases?
10 gene therapy companies you should know about
CRISPR technology’s next wave: Ten companies to watch