(Re)Share #56 - The lab rat race
Engineered DNA | BCI | Post-quantum encryption | Supersonic flight | Synth wombs
Happy Easter to those who celebrate and happy long weekend to those who don’t. It’s been a busy few weeks with our fourth investment of the year going through. Steph and I are also in the process of renovating our house and I took it upon myself to be Home Appliance Czar which has led me to learn every conceivable fact about refrigerators. I am single handedly keeping YouTube product reviewers afloat. Anyway, lots to cover so let’s get to it.
Shameless Plug
Last week, we announced that we’re expanding the Fly team and bringing on an Associate in our Berlin office. I’m genuinely excited about the early candidate pipeline—but let’s be honest, hiring is a grind and a numbers game. So I’m shamelessly asking the (Re)Share community: if you know anyone who is, or might be, looking for a new gig, send them our way. This is, first and foremost, a sourcing role. I’m looking for a sharp, hungry, and very tech‑literate deal hunter. Full job description here.
Stuff Worth Sharing
Game of clones - Last month we talked about the groundbreaking work of Colossal Biosciences with their unveiling of the woolly mouse. The company is back in the news now for a more controversial reason: they’ve formally filed a patent that would grant them exclusive legal rights to create and sell gene-edited elephants containing ancient mammoth DNA. This move has sparked backlash among scientists and ethicists, who argue that patenting life forms—especially those derived from extinct species—raises significant ethical and legal concerns. Colossal counters that securing patents is essential to protect their intellectual property and ensure the viability of their platform. They go a step further, insisting that strong property rights would allow them to set the standard for ethical development in the space. I’m sympathetic to both sides and, frankly, not entirely sure where I land. This represents a truly novel dimension of IP law and is something that needs to be worked out. A painful lesson for many tech investors over the past few years is that no one really cares about the platform—it’s all about the assets. At the same time, ethics-based inertia remains a real force in drug development. I’m continually surprised by the vast gap between the promise of stem cell therapeutics and the maturity of the field.
Also worth noting: Time published a thorough piece on Colossal’s work to revive the direwolf. I haven’t read it yet, so no comment there—but I am Team Stark, FWIW.
My brain chemical romance - Speaking of stem cells, this Nature article highlights some incredibly exciting work on the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. An early-stage clinical trial has shown that injecting stem-cell-derived neurons into the brains of Parkinson’s patients may slow—or even alleviate—symptoms. Though the study was limited to just 19 participants, the results are meaningful, showing measurable improvement in motor function and reduced tremors. The approach replaces the dopamine-producing neurons that degenerate in Parkinson’s and effectively restarts the brain’s chemical mechanisms required for normal function. Some individuals saw tangible gains in motor control, including reduced tremors. As you’ll also soon find out in a few months, I’m very interested in this space—and have put Fly’s money where my mouth is.
Quantummy ache - One of the more interesting companies I’ve looked at recently focuses on encryption viability in a post-quantum world. That work led me to this fascinating (but heavy) paper on the various applications and required systems to certify randomness. Random generation—alphanumeric, factorial, or otherwise—is one of the laws of computational nature. It’s present in everything and so commonplace that it’s almost completely ignored in day-to-day life. The gravity of software. But if randomness were no longer true, our entire system of security, authentication, and permanence could crumble. Classical randomness sources are inherently unverifiable and vulnerable to manipulation through compromised hardware. This is the macro threat of quantum computing and why researchers are investing heavily in building and transitioning to post-quantum systems well before those computational capabilities become widespread. Certified randomness—especially from quantum sources—offers a method to prove unpredictability, even when generated by potentially untrusted devices accessed remotely. The paper explores how certified randomness could apply to real-world domains including cryptography, privacy-preserving technologies, financial fairness, and blockchain infrastructure. As I’ve said in several past issues, quantum mechanics makes my head hurt. Unless you go deep in understanding the math—something I feel pretty confident is beyond my intellectual abilities—you sort of have to blindly accept the viability of superposition. Fortunately, much smarter people than me are spending a lot of time on this, which is why I continue to subject myself to this masochistic pursuit.
The lab rat race - The FDA just dropped a major announcement: they’ll be systematically phasing out the longstanding animal testing requirements in the development of monoclonal antibodies and other drugs. While this shift has been building momentum within the agency for a few years, this latest directive is by far the most meaningful commitment yet—and it’s a very big deal for techbio startups globally. Drug development is unusual in that the overwhelming spend and market opportunity is concentrated in the U.S. As a result, the FDA effectively sets the global standard for what “good” looks like, with massive ripple effects across capital markets. Whether a startup is based in San Diego or San Sebastián, FDA posture shapes business strategy. So this new stance—one that is deliberately tech-first—should unlock a wave of innovation, improve drug safety, and reduce R&D costs. A big focus of the announcement is the push to incorporate “New Approach Methodologies” (NAMs)—FDA-speak for tech-forward innovation like AI-discovery models and engineered organoids. The latter is something I’ve spent a lot of time on via Pear Bio and will always champion for its therapeutic potential. Another (somewhat quieter) milestone: the agency’s stated intent to rely more regularly on international human studies. Anyone who’s worked in this space knows how frustrating the FDA’s historical insistence on domestically sourced clinical data has been. While there are reasonable arguments (consistent standards, population health baselines), the reality is those requirements are outdated and unnecessarily restrictive. And finally—though often overlooked—this is a meaningful win for animal rights.
What’s on your mind? - We’ve talked a lot about various approaches to BCI and the potential they offer, but so far those stories have mostly been limited to clinical trials and patient demonstrations. That changed this month, as the FDA cleared Precision Neuroscience’s Layer 7 Cortical Interface implant for clinical use. The minimally invasive, flexible film—featuring 1,024 electrodes—can be inserted through a sub-millimeter incision and placed directly on the brain’s surface in a reversible procedure. While the implant is currently only approved for temporary use (up to 30 days), limiting its role as a persistent therapeutic, it offers a powerful tool for brain mapping during surgery. More importantly, this marks a huge milestone for a developer of wireless mind-reading technology. There’s a real second-mover advantage dynamic in medical device investing, so I’m thrilled to see this progress—and hope to meet some great teams building in the space.
Make a machery - One of my go-to podcasts, How I Invest, usually dives into very inside-baseball finance that’s a bit outside the scope of (Re)Share. But the recent interview with Boom Supersonic founder Blake Scholl was absolutely fascinating and worth a few words here. It’s a real masterclass in catalyzing extreme tech risk into reality. Blake walks through everything from the intense skepticism he faced early on, to how he cultivated elite talent by framing the mission as a grand challenge, to hustling his way into a Richard Branson–approved Virgin deal. And if the founder-journey isn’t enough to hook you, the episode is packed with fun facts about the raw physics and engineering challenges of making supersonic flight economically viable. A must-listen.
Bun in the unconventional oven - Another byproduct of my more interesting dealflow: a deep dive into the current state and outlook of synthetic wombs. Several years ago, my old boss once claimed we’d never achieve true gender parity until we evolved past our dependency on female-based gestation. That sounded preposterous at the time, but as I’ve explored the field, I’ve come around to that line of thinking. This article by Aria Babu offers a great overview of where we are today, what’s on the horizon, and what’s holding back further development. It’s not particularly technical, but it does reference a number of excellent papers and historical points—including designs from the 1950s, the 14-day ethics rule, and recent developments in non-human embryo incubation. Fair warning: if you’re thinking about getting pregnant anytime soon, you may want to skip the first 25% of the piece. Babu lays out the physical and emotional toll of pregnancy and childbirth with brutal honesty. Artificial wombs could offer solutions to a number of challenges—reducing maternal mortality, supporting premature infants, and expanding pathways to parenthood. It’s unquestionably an ethical minefield, but the upside potential is profound.
Portfolio Flex
Wayve announced their ProPILOT partnership with Nissan.
Orbital released Orb-v3, a choose your own adventure model across performance and efficiency for material simulation.