The Founder’s Playbook: Pitching, Pivoting, and De-risking Early-Stage Science | Dr. Jo Viney

In this episode of the Nucleate Podcast, Dr. Jo Viney, co-founder, president, and CEO of Seismic Therapeutic, shares her trajectory from academic immunology training in London to major biotech companies and startup leadership. She discusses how early clinical lab exposure to autoimmune patients sparked her passion for translational science and highlights why the Boston ecosystem is an ideal place to launch biotech startups due to its unparalleled funding, incubator space, and collaborative peer networks. She also reflects on the lessons learned from co-funding Pandion Therapeutics—including how following surprising data led to a major asset acquisition by Merck—and describes the bittersweet feeling of handing off a company she helped build.

The conversation then explores Seismic Therapeutic's approach to tackling autoimmune diseases by integrating machine learning into protein drug discovery. Jo details how combining structural biology, machine learning, protein engineering, and immunology allows Seismic to accelerate drug design cycles, optimize enzyme therapeutics, and tackle complex agonist and cell-selective antibody design. She emphasizes that machine learning serves as a powerful tool guided by human hypothesis-driven research rather than a standalone cure-all. Jo closes with practical advice for emerging scientific founders, encouraging them to seek out diverse viewpoints, pressure-test their ideas with critics, and keep patient impact as their true North Star.

Here's a segment breakdown with timestamps:

00:27 – Academic beginnings to Startups

02:05 – International experience shaping perspective

03:03 – Location and choosing Boston

03:53 – Influences, mentors, & successful mentorship

04:54 – Biotech CEO Sisterhood

05:08 – Leading other scientists now

05:78 – Larger pharma versus the smaller biotechs

07:28 – Co-founder at Pandion, drug development, & inspiration to start the company

08:62 – Acquisition of company: success and navigation