Apr 26, 2023
The loss of two grandmothers to cancer propelled the daughter of an entrepreneurial family, Stephanie Culler, to a Ph.D. at Caltech and eventually to founding Persephone Microbiome. The VC-funded startup seeks to use gut bacteria to increase the success of cancer therapies. Persephone is also launching a probiotic for infants. Fascinating chat with a brilliant and articulate scientific founder.
Highlights:
- · Sal Daher Introduces Stephanie Culler, Ph.D. Co-Founder of Persephone Microbiome
- · Persephone’s Business Model Is to Partner with Big Pharma to Develop Products Based on Its Platform
- · A Probiotic for Babies and Infants Is Coming in Early 2024
- · Results from the Largest Study in the US of Infant Gut Microbiome Were Unsettling
- · Causes of Insufficiencies in the Gut Biome of Babies
- · “Upwards of 80% of cells of our immune system is in our gut.”
- · “...if you have a good microbiome, you're much more likely to respond to treatment.”
- · “We are wet lab and in silico.”
- · How Persephone Got Funded
- · The Importance of Enrolling Populations Previously Under-represented in Studies
- · The Promise of Population-Scale Data Sets
- · Scanning Large Patient Populations Unencumbered by Animal Studies
- · Why You Should Help This Podcast Get Found
- · Stephanie Culler, Ph.D.’s Entrepreneurial Journey
- · Entrepreneurial Family that Lost Two Grandmothers to Cancer
- · Sal’s Appreciation of Articulate Chemical Engineers Like Stephanie
- · Stephanie’s Experience at Y Combinator
- · How Stephanie Culler Connected with Leen Kawas
- · Stephanie’s Parting Thoughts on Biotech Winter
- Topics: biotech, robotics / AI, venture funding, discovering entrepreneurship