🧬eMalick Njie, Ph.D - Ecotone - Part 1 | Growing Up in the Gambia | The Unending Book of Neuroscience | Being a Professional Scientist | How to Lose Your MIT Recommendation Letter: 101

The Biotech Startups Podcast

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Part 1 of 4: Jon Chee hosts our latest guest, eMalick Njie, CEO of Ecotone AI, a company that is looking to use AI to find cures for rare inherited diseases. eMalick is an experienced scientist and entrepreneur who has focused on blending his expertise in neuroscience with his knowledge of AI.

In addition to founding two AI companies, Ecotone and Genetic Intelligence, eMalick received his PhD in Neurobiology and Neuroscience from the University of Florida. His extensive and diverse experience from being a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia university to being the CEO of the AI thinktank NeuroStorm makes our conversation with him one you won’t want to miss.

Join us this week to hear about:

• Growing up with hippie parents in the Gambia
• Being in the first neuroscience class in the country at Northeastern University
• Lessons learned in one on one conversations with a CEO
• Experience working with Dr. Alice Ting while at MIT
• Sticking to his principles and leaving MIT

Please enjoy Jon’s conversation with Dr. eMalick Njie!

Subscribe to the podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-biotech-startups-podcast/id1679591994

Find Our Guest, Barbara Alcaraz Silva, at these links:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/emalick-njie-ph-d-ab82348/

https://ecotone.ai/

Find Our Host, Jon Chee, at these links:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonchee

https://www.excedr.com

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Enriched Notes:

Topics Mentioned:

Ecotone AI: https://ecotone.ai/

Genetic Leap: https://www.genetic-leap.com/

Northeastern University: https://cos.northeastern.edu/behavioral-neuroscience/

Millennium Pharmaceuticals https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takeda_Oncology

Eli Lilly Joins Forces with AI Startup Genetic Leap in $409M Deal https://www.geneonline.com/eli-lilly-joins-forces-with-ai-startup-genetic-leap-in-409m-deal-centered-around-rna-targeted-drug-discovery/

Biotech Startup Support: https://www.excedr.com/resources-category/biotech-startup-support

People Mentioned:

Dr. Alice Y. Ting: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alice-ting-a7689835/

Dr. Wendy Smith: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendy-smith-80663714/

Mark Howort https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-howarth-763112b1/

Dr. Eric Kandel: https://www.columbiapsychiatry.org/profile/eric-kandel-md

Dr. David Bruchelt https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-borchelt-42474623/

Dr. Wolfgang Streit: https://neuroscience.ufl.edu/profile/streit-wolfgang/

Timestamps:

00:28 Intro

02:12 Early upbringing in the Gambia, early childhood, and how his unusual hippie parents shaped him into the scientist and entrepreneur he is today

04:32 Following his curiosity to his undergrad program Northeastern University to study the “unending book” of neuroscience

06:51 Being part of the first neuroscience class in the country and starting the trend of working under Nobel Prize winners, and/or those trained by Nobel Laureates

11:17 First exposure to professional scientists while interning at Millennium Pharmaceuticals

14:03 Lessons learned during his humanizing one-on-one conversations with the CEO

17:52 Comparing and contrasting his industry experience with his academia experience

19:58 Getting to MIT after graduating from NEU and working with Dr. Alice Ting

23:24 Dealing with challenging periods in your life and learning to persevere

25:28 Memorable and humbling challenge while working in Dr. Ting’s lab

30:18 “How do you lose your recommendation letter to MIT: 101”

32:38 Choosing to moving on to University of Florida

36:51 Outro

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