Ryan Bethencourt is a scientist, entrepreneur, and biohacker best known for his work as program director and venture partner at Indie.Bio, a biology accelerator and early stage seed fund. Bethencourt was head of life sciences at the XPRIZE foundation, a co-founder and CEO of Berkeley Biolabs, a biotech accelerator, and Halpin Neurosciences, an ALS therapeutics-focused biotech company. Bethencourt co-founded Counter Culture Labs, a citizen science nonprofit, and Sudo Room, a hacker space based in downtown Oakland, California. (Photo by Melissa Schwartz)
Artificial Intelligence
2017 Biotech Trends–Regrown Organs, Augmented Brains, and AI Diagnosis
At IndieBio we see hundreds of biotech startups and technologies, and a few key themes are emerging for 2017. Fiction is becoming a reality with cell therapies. The era of the brain has arrived. And machine learning and AI are now a key part of biotech innovation.
Bio + Life Sciences
Ubiquitous Biotech in a Time of Ignorance
Biology has recently found solutions we didn’t imagine were possible, such as the recent discovery that plants’ chlorophyll molecules act at the quantum mechanical level to maximize energy harvested from the sun. Yet, when it comes to understanding biotechnology innovations, the general public is sadly misinformed about the science. Unfounded fears have prompted the European Union to place stringent controls on the use and growth of GMO crops, and many EU countries require permits to do basic molecular biology and genetic engineering.
