The State of Biotech 2025

George Church, PhD

George is a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School and professor of health sciences and technology at Harvard and MIT. He is a prolific researcher studying genetic sequencing, genome editing, barcoding, and much more. The applicability of his research to biotechnology has led to George co-founding dozens of biotech companies. Notably, in 2018, 16 biotech companies emerged from his lab in a single year.

He helped initiate the Human Genome Project and later the Personal Genome Project.

George obtained his doctorate in biochemistry and molecular biology in 1984 from Harvard University. Following graduation, he worked in an industry lab before completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco. He returned to Harvard as an assistant professor in 1986 and has grown his research group and lab at the Harvard Medical School.

Iya Khalil, PhD

Dr. Khalil is the vice president and head of data, AI and genome sciences at Merck & Co. Her work focuses on driving an AI-first, data-driven approach to early discovery in biology. Before joining Merck in 2023, she served as the global head of AI innovation lab at Novartis. She is well known as a technology entrepreneur, as she spent over a decade as the chief commercial officer and executive vice president of GNS Healthcare, a healthcare data analytics company that she co-founded. She also co-founded Gene Network Science and is the co-inventor of a proprietary computational engine that underpins both companies.

Iya holds a doctorate degree from Cornell University in theoretical physics and has spent her career exploring the applications of AI in healthcare. She was also named in the PharmaVOICE 100 list as one of the most inspiring people in the life sciences industry.

Daphne Zohar

Daphne is a serial biotech entrepreneur. She serves as CEO and board member of Seaport Therapeutics, a developer of therapies for neuropsychiatric disorders that was publicly launched last year with an oversubscribed $100 million Series A financing. Previously, she was the founder, chief executive officer, and board member of PureTech Health, where she also co-founded PureTech’s entities, including Karuna Therapeutics (acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb). She has been recognized as a leader in biotech innovation by multiple organizations. In 2023, Daphne was named as one of the most influential people in Biopharma by Fierce Media, and earlier, was recognized by MIT Technology Review as one of its “Innovators Under 35.”

Daphne is the co-founder and host of Biotech Hangout, a weekly podcast about everything biotech. She also sits on the board of Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) and is a member of the Biotech CEO Sisterhood.

Brad Loncar

Brad Loncar is a biotechnology industry investor and CEO of Loncar Investments. He is the creator of two Nasdaq-listed, biotech-focused exchange-traded funds. Brad previously worked in the financial services industry at Franklin Templeton Investments, where he was a member of the Management Training Program, and was appointed to serve in a senior advisor role at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. He currently writes biotechnology commentary at www.LoncarBlog.com, Nasdaq.com, and contributes opinion pieces to Endpoints News.

Brad is also the founder of BiotechTV, a platform that aims to bring the best of the biotech sector to life online through a combination of news, educational content, and tech demonstrations, highlighting the people who make biotech great.