The Lonely Pipette : helping scientists do better science

TLP #20 : Have you tried multi-plexing ? - George Church

Jonathan Weitzman & Renaud Pourpre Season 2 Episode 10

In this episode, we talk to George Church about his successful career in DNA repair and his entrepreneurial adventures translating research findings into biotech companies

  • George proudly describes himself as a biologist-engineer
  • He ponders whether his dyslexia may have helped him by making him realize he was different from others when he was growing up
  • He looks for projects in ‘exponential fields’ that combine pure scientific interest, technology breakthroughs and bring societal benefit.
  • George cautions against using the word ‘impossible’
  • He talks about how he has contributed to scientific and technology revolutions
  • He emphasizes the important of considering ethics, safety and security at the outset of ambitious science projects
  • George remembers how he reacted to having his genome sequenced and speculates about the future of digital genomics and NFTs
  • When recruiting, he looks for people that are ‘nice’ and have deep knowledge in at least two different fields
  • George gets up at 4:30 a.m. and his head is immediately whizzing with new ideas
  • He tells us how much he learns from his grandchildren (and even mends their party dresses) 


He mentioned these projects, institutions, companies

To find out more about George :


To find out more about Renaud and Jonathan :

More about the soundtrack :
Music by Amaria - Lovely Swindler https://soundcloud.com/amariamusique/