🧬 Rabia Khan - Serna Bio: Unraveling the Genetics of AI-Driven Drug Discovery (Part 1/4)

04/14/25 • 48 min

🧬 The Biotech Startups Podcast is powered by Excedr —helping life science startups accelerate R&D and commercialization with founder-friendly equipment leasing. Skip the upfront costs, stay lean, and focus on breakthrough science.As a TBSP listener, you can get exclusive perks through Excedr’s partner network—special savings, promotions, and more. Explore these offers today: https://www.excedr.com/partners."I was born and raised in a developing country. I was born and raised in Pakistan. And it's very interesting when you're born in a developing country. That's your world. Right? That's all you know."In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, we delve into Rabia Khan's remarkable journey from her childhood in Pakistan to founding Serna Bio, an AI-enabled drug discovery company. Rabia shares how her early experiences in a developing country, her aunt's battle with schizophrenia, and the sequencing of the human genome in 2000 sparked her passion for genetics and healthcare. She recounts how her career options were either medicine or engineering, setting her on a path that would eventually lead to pioneering work at the intersection of AI and biotechnology.Rabia describes her transition to McGill University in Montreal, facing the shock of -40°C weather with only a leather jacket while navigating life as an international student with no support system. Despite these challenges, she pursued dual interests in biology and economics, finding her first research opportunity in a schizophrenia lab where she started by pipetting water and washing dishes. Key topics covered:

Formative Influences: Shaped by Pakistan upbringing, aunt's schizophrenia, and genome sequencing
Educational Journey: Balancing biology and economics at McGill
First Research Experiences: From lab basics to discovering a disease-causing gene
Decision-Making Frameworks: Applying economics principles to business decisions
Family Influence: Mother's practicality and father's entrepreneurial drive guided her path

If you enjoy The Biotech Startups Podcast, please consider subscribing, leaving a review, or sharing it with your friends. Thanks for listening.Subscribe to the Podcast:Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-biotech-startups-podcast/id1679591994Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2PSL162R2s0zOwU5913Zv4Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thebiotechstartupspodcast Website: https://www.thebiotechstartupspodcast.com/ Find our guest, Rabia Khan, at these links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rabiatkhan/ Website: https://www.serna.bio/ Find our host, Jon Chee, at these links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joncheeLearn more about Excedr:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/excedr/ Website: https://www.excedr.comIntro & Outro Songs Created by OkKyojin, Owned by Excedr:Website: https://flow.page/kyojin Resources & Articles:The Human Genome Project https://www.genome.gov/human-genome-project Schizophrenia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizophrenia Opportunity Cost https://www.investopedia.com/terms/o/opportunitycost.asp Marginal Utility https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/marginalutility.asp The Prisoner's Dilemma https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner%27s_dilemma Ray Dalio's Decision Making Frameworks https://www.principles.com/principles/7df5502f-46e5-47d5-8fd7-8fc70843b726/ Nassim Taleb's Antifragility https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antifragile_(book) Black Swan by Nassim Taleb https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Swan:_The_Impact_of_the_Highly_Improbable...

Formative Influences: Shaped by Pakistan upbringing, aunt's schizophrenia, and genome sequencing
Educational Journey: Balancing biology and economics at McGill
First Research Experiences: From lab basics to discovering a disease-causing gene
Decision-Making Frameworks: Applying economics principles to business decisions
Family Influence: Mother's practicality and father's entrepreneurial drive guided her path

Previous Episode

🧬Alfredo Andere - LatchBio: Revolutionizing Biopharma Data & Mastering Enterprise Sales (Part 4/4)

🧬 The Biotech Startups Podcast is powered by Excedr —helping life science startups accelerate R&D and commercialization with founder-friendly equipment leasing. Skip the upfront costs, stay lean, and focus on breakthrough science.As a TBSP listener, you can get exclusive perks through Excedr’s partner network—special savings, promotions, and more. Explore these offers today: https://www.excedr.com/partners."Focus and commitment to niche ideas have huge payoffs."In part four of our conversation with Alfredo Andere, co-founder of LatchBio, we explore how the company evolved from a simple workflow orchestrator into a comprehensive platform serving biopharma companies and solution providers. Alfredo shares his approach to enterprise sales, emphasizing the importance of speed, focus, and building strong relationships with customers. He also delves into his philosophy on fundraising and the pivotal role of iterative development in creating impactful biotech solutions.Alfredo reflects on the challenges and rewards of working in niche markets, explaining why deep commitment and loyalty to specific problems are essential for long-term success. Whether you’re a first-time founder or an experienced entrepreneur, this episode is packed with actionable insights on building, selling, and scaling in the biotech space.Key topics covered:

Iterative product development: Expanding LatchBio’s platform from workflows to data storage and analysis
Biopharma vs. solution providers: How LatchBio serves these distinct customer groups
Enterprise sales best practices: Qualifying leads and acting as a consultant to customer problems
Fundraising strategies: Why early-stage rounds focus on vision and team, while later rounds prioritize traction
The power of focus: Avoiding the trap of optionality and scaling only when ready

If you enjoy The Biotech Startups Podcast, please consider subscribing, leaving a review, or sharing it with your friends. Thanks for listening.Subscribe to the Podcast:Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-biotech-startups-podcast/id1679591994Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2PSL162R2s0zOwU5913Zv4Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thebiotechstartupspodcast Website: https://www.thebiotechstartupspodcast.com/ Find our guest, Alfredo Andere, at these links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alfredoandere/Website: https://www.linkedin.com/company/latchbio/Find our host, Jon Chee, at these links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joncheeLearn more about Excedr:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/excedr/ Website: https://www.excedr.comIntro & Outro Songs Created by OkKyojin, Owned by Excedr:Website: https://flow.page/kyojin Resources & Articles:Viktor Frankl's "Man’s Search for Meaning": https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4069.Man_s_Search_for_MeaningLux Capital’s Article: Why High-Throughput Bio Research Needs Better Tools: Immediately: https://www.luxcapital.com/content/why-high-throughput-bio-research-needs-better-tools-immediatelyAlphaFold 2: https://alphafold.ebi.ac.uk/Bulk RNA-seq Analysis Tools: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_RNA-Seq_bioinformatics_toolsPaul Graham’s "How to Raise Money": https://www.paulgraham.com/fr.htmlCompanies, Universities, & People mentioned:Latch Bio: https://latch.bioIllumina: https://illumina.comOxford Nanopore Technologies: https://nanoporetech.com10x Genomics: https://10xgenomics.comFluent BioSciences: https://www.fluentbio.com/ Scale 10x:

Next Episode

🧬 Rabia Khan - Serna Bio: Bridging Science & Tech—PhDs, MBAs, & Biotech Innovation (Part 2/4)

🧬 The Biotech Startups Podcast is powered by Excedr —helping life science startups accelerate R&D and commercialization with founder-friendly equipment leasing. Skip the upfront costs, stay lean, and focus on breakthrough science.As a TBSP listener, you can get exclusive perks through Excedr’s partner network—special savings, promotions, and more. Explore these offers today: https://www.excedr.com/partners.“I wish someone had told me when I was starting my PhD to sit down and say, ‘what do I want out of this?’ and [then] write it down. Because, unlike the UK, where PhDs are three years and time bound, in Canada, they are neither time bound nor three years. And so you can meander."

In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, Rabia Khan, founder and CEO of Serna Bio, joins host Jon Chee to reflect on her unconventional journey through academia, business, and biotech innovation. Rabia shares how her curiosity, resilience, and embracing uncertainty shaped her journey through a PhD in genetics and an MBA. She discusses the emotional challenges of working with animal models, the benefits and limits of business school for scientists, and personal struggles, including her father’s illness.She recounts early setbacks, like rejected consulting jobs, and how a cold email landed her at Meta (now part of Chan Zuckerberg Biohub). Rabia emphasizes “manufacturing serendipity,” differences between founder and employee mindsets, and lessons from her work at BenevolentAI, highlighting the importance of cross-disciplinary communication and challenging industry norms.Key topics covered: