Companies
Founded in 1976 in South San Francisco, this company is often called the first biotech company.
What is Genentech?
This degree is usually required to run your own academic research lab.
What is a PhD?
It's famously called "the powerhouse of the cell."
What is the mitochondria?
In 1928, Alexander Fleming discovered this antibiotic growing from mold.
What is penicillin?
PCR
What is Polymerase Chain Reaction?
This pharma giant partnered with BioNTech to make one of the first COVID-19 vaccines.
What is Pfizer?
Getting this degree takes 4 years of medical school, followed by 3–7+ years of residency.
What is an MD?
This molecule carries the genetic message from DNA to the ribosome.
What is mRNA (messenger RNA)?
Born in 1996, this sheep was the first mammal cloned from an adult cell.
Who is Dolly?
FDA
What is the Food and Drug Administration?
This Massachusetts company's name blends the words "modified" and "RNA."
What is Moderna?
This 1–2 year business degree is common for people moving into biotech strategy, product management, or leadership.
What is an MBA?
This process cuts introns out of RNA and joins the exons together.
What is splicing?
In 1953, these two scientists published the double helix, using Rosalind Franklin's X-ray data.
Who are Watson and Crick?
CRISPR
What is Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats?
This company’s first blockbuster drug was Epogen, a lab-made version of EPO, the hormone that tells your body to make red blood cells.
What is Amgen?
This person turns a biotech idea into a brand-new company, then pitches investors to fund it, much like our Shark Tank project.
Who is a startup founder?
B cells turn into these cells, which pump out antibodies.
What are plasma cells?
Declared complete in 2003, this international project sequenced nearly all of the human genome.
What is the Human Genome Project?
mAb
What is monoclonal antibody?
This company’s hepatitis C cure, Sovaldi, made headlines in 2013 for its $84,000 price tag, about $1,000 per pill.
What is Gilead Sciences?
This career advises pharma and biotech companies on big business decisions, like launching a drug or entering a new market.
What is healthcare consulting?
Found in retroviruses like HIV, this enzyme builds DNA from an RNA template.
What is reverse transcriptase?
Approved in 1982, this was the first drug made with recombinant DNA. Genentech developed it and Eli Lilly sold it.
What is human insulin (Humulin)?
CAR-T
What is Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell (therapy)?