In Conversation with Nancy J Kelley

Join BioBuzz's CEO, Chris Frew, as he interviews Nancy J Kelley, a trailblazing entrepreneur and life sciences leader, at the Philly Builds Bio Symposium. Discover her journey from founding the New York Genome Center to leading innovative projects like the Genome Project-write and Kyttaro Therapeutics.

Chris Frew [00:00:05]:
Welcome. I'm Chris Frew, CEO of Biobuzz Networks. I'm thrilled to be here in Philadelphia at the Philly builds bio third annual Life Science Symposium. We're in the heart of Philadelphia, where hundreds of attendees and over 50 speakers have gathered with industry leaders from across the region to discuss the latest innovations within the life science sector that are shaping the city. I'm honored to be here today with Nancy J. Kelly. Nancy, welcome.

Nancy J Kelley [00:00:32]:
Thank you. So happy to be here.

Chris Frew [00:00:34]:
Can you take a couple minutes to introduce yourself to the audience?

Nancy J Kelley [00:00:37]:
Sure. So I am president and CEO of Nancy J Kelly + Associates. We build things that matter for science and medicine, including lots of new and exciting companies and innovation campuses. I'm also the founding member of Builds Bio, which is now eight years old and three years in Philadelphia.

Chris Frew [00:01:02]:
Well, congratulations. It's very exciting. Can you tell us about builds Bio and the mission of the organization?

Nancy J Kelley [00:01:07]:
Yeah. So Builds Bio is a 501 nonprofit organization, and our mission is to bring the entire ecosystem for life sciences together. So it runs the gamut from the scientists to the institutions, to the technology transfer, to the people who build the buildings, to the people who design them, and bringing everyone together in one conversation about what the industry needs and how it moves forward. And so we started in New York. We've expanded to the greater New York metro region, which includes New Jersey and southern Connecticut. Philly, three years ago, and now we're in London this year for the first time.

Chris Frew [00:01:54]:
Congratulations.

Nancy J Kelley [00:01:55]:
Yeah, thank you.

Chris Frew [00:01:56]:
So this is your third year in Philadelphia?

Nancy J Kelley [00:01:58]:
Yes.

Chris Frew [00:01:59]:
Tell us a little bit about what you're most proud of about the Philadelphia event.

Nancy J Kelley [00:02:03]:
You know, I think that the community here is just amazing. The people in Philadelphia are so excited about the science that's happening here, about the companies that are growing here, about the incubators that are commercializing this amazing technology that's coming out of the institutions. And it's really always energizing to come down here and just sense their enthusiasm about it.

Chris Frew [00:02:41]:
That's amazing. Speaking of community, how important is community to fostering and building a thriving life science ecosystem and commercializing new products?

Nancy J Kelley [00:02:52]:
It's very important. I mean, no discovery happens in a vacuum or by itself. It takes a community to build a discovery to trigger those innovation points that kind of make the connections from a to z and everything in between. But more importantly than that, you need all kinds of people to take that discovery, make sure that it gets commercialized, licensed to companies that can bring those therapeutics to market to patients. They need particular kinds of environments to exist in and grow in that's where the companies that build the buildings come in and design and engineer the interiors of these buildings. So it's really important. It takes everybody working together, but it's not just the local community either. And that's why making connections between the markets, between Philly and the New York metro market, between Philly and London, is so important, because that brings new blood in the fresh ideas, and it helps to grow Philly. We have a company that is founded on technology from german scientists who live in Munich. And we founded a company, we've been commercializing that technology, I realized, that belonged in Philly. So we are going to establish the labs here. And two members of the scientific advisory board come from Philly institutions, and the coo comes from Philly. So it's about making those connections between the markets as well.

Chris Frew [00:04:41]:
Well. And science is. And human health is global. Right. And so is innovation, right?

Nancy J Kelley [00:04:46]:
Absolutely.

Chris Frew [00:04:47]:
So that's a tremendous success story. Can you tell us about any other success stories that have come out of the event or other partnerships and collaborations?

Nancy J Kelley [00:04:55]:
Yeah, so obviously there's the institutional collaborations that come out of the institutions in Philly are always working with institutions in New York. So, for example, one of the big stories this year is a new ten year food program, actually, food research, where it's food as health, where they're going to be looking at a large population over a ten year period and find out what good nutrition actually means to the health of that population. And that is being done by a scientist at UPenn in collaboration with Rockefeller University, which is in New York. So those kinds of collaborations are important. On the building side, it's even more vibrant than that. You know, you have engineers, you have architects, you have the vivarium folks. They're all coming down here to help service the Philly market. And in return, Philly companies are going to New York to help us understand how to build cell and gene therapy hubs better. So it's very, very vibrant in terms of the exchange of ideas.

Chris Frew [00:06:08]:
Those are some great success stories and really showing the real value. And you said the multi market connectivity.

Nancy J Kelley [00:06:14]:
Yeah.

Chris Frew [00:06:16]:
So tell us, since last year, what are you most excited about that's happening in Philadelphia, or that is that you see happening in the future?

Nancy J Kelley [00:06:25]:
So I am so excited to be in Philadelphia this year because it's been a tough two years for this market. I mean, fundraising for companies has been very, very difficult. Leasing lab space has been very, very difficult for the industry with a big oversupply, and there hasn't been a lot of good news around right. But then when I started doing the research on what was happening in Philly over the last year and realizing all of the amazing science that happened here, which you're going to hear about in the first couple of panels, just amazing stories like that food as health story. But even more important than that, there's like seven or eight companies that have all raised over $35 million this year in this terribly down market. What an amazing story to give us all hope that it's turning around.

Chris Frew [00:07:26]:
Well, I share that enthusiasm, for sure, and I know a lot of people who are attending today also do.

Nancy J Kelley [00:07:31]:
Yeah.

Chris Frew [00:07:32]:
Well, thank you so much for joining me today, Nancy.

Nancy J Kelley [00:07:35]:
Thanks for having us. We really appreciate it.

Chris Frew [00:07:38]:
Well, we're excited for the day's events. I have no doubt that we're going to have more collaborations that are coming from the hundreds of people that will be here today.

Nancy J Kelley [00:07:45]:
Yeah, that's the purpose.

Chris Frew [00:07:47]:
Wonderful. And thank you all for joining us from home. Let's have a good symposium.