This week in The Intersection, listen in as Steve Bowsher talks with Mike Appelbaum, two-time CEO of In-Q-Tel portfolio companies, to discuss why startups should consider the government market. 

The debut of The Intersection: Mission Investing for National Security. Hosted by IQT President Steve Bowsher, the inaugural pod with TJ Rylander from Next47 features insights about sourcing and supporting startups, a company’s makeup to work with the government market, and more.

As synthetic biology continues to evolve, the ability to control engineered organisms is more important now than ever. In this episode, B.Next’s Dr. Kevin O’Connell is joined by Gabriel Lopez, the Co-founder and CEO of Synvivia, a company focused on building protein switches to control the behavior of genetically engineered organisms. Learn more about these protein switches, their commercial applications, how they can enhance biosecurity, and more. 

Learn more at synvivia.com

In the era of COVID-19, how do we create safe environments for people to return to work, school, and their daily lives? B.Next’s Dr. Kevin O’Connell is joined by Troy Moore, Chief Scientific Officer and Founder at Kailos Genetics, an In-Q-Tel portfolio company providing cost-effective solutions that make genetic screening accessible to everyone. Listen in as the two explore the importance and impact of testing, genetic sequencing, the company’s capture and enrichment methodology adapted to work with the COVID-19 virus, and more.

B.Next’s Dr. Kevin O’Connell is joined by Jason Kelly, Founder of Ginkgo Bioworks, an In-Q-Tel portfolio company using the most advanced technology on the planet—biology—to grow better products. Learn more about their platform that programs cells, and how they leverage this capability to expand biosecurity and pandemic response.

Learn more at ginkgobioworks.com. 

With an abundance of information available on COVID-19 testing, where should one even begin? B.Next’s Dr. Kevin O’Connell is joined by In-Q-Tel’s Tommy Jones and Chenny Zhang to explore diagnostic testing for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Now that various COVID-19 tests are available, it’s important to determine which tests are compatible with each use case, where these tests may be taken, and how well each of the various tests perform. Learn more about the database IQT constructed to help people better navigate this testing world. 

For more information, visit covidtestdb.com.