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“I am especially excited about a company called S
hasqi Pharmaceuticals that is performing bioorthogonal chemical reactions inside the bodies of cancer patients as a means for delivery of chemotherapy drugs to tumor tissues.” Bertozzi received her PhD from UC Berkeley in 1993 and in 1996 she launched a lab of her own at the University of California at Berkeley. At her own lab she began researching bioorthogonal reactions. The professor who taught that organic chemistry class at Harvard, David Evans, was a strong influence on Bertozzi, as was her father, a retired Massachusetts Institute of Technology physics professor. Her doctorate advisor, Mark Bednarski, also helped launch her career. “He gave me a big break as a practicing organic chemist at a time when women had difficulty breaking into the field,” Bertozzi says. She is only the eighth woman to have been awarded the Nobel Chemistry Prize. “We all wish the numbers were higher,” she says. “As for why the number isn’t higher, this is a question that more men should be thinking about.” Bertozzi also said in that interview with Nobel Media right after the announcement that the fact that the numbers of women who receives these kinds of awards tick up. “I’m sure there’ll be many more in the future. I mean, there’s so many amazing women scientists. And I think we’ll see them coming up more and more,” she said. Seven companies in 12 years Carolyn Bertozzi’s goals include seeing some of the innovations from her academic lab translated into therapeutics and diagnostic tools that improve human health, she says to NLS. These goals are well on the way. Several of the technologies developed in her lab have been adapted for commercial use and she has launched seven companies in 12 years, all rooted in her extensive knowledge of modifying sugar structures. Actively engaged with several biotechnology start-ups, Bertozzi cofounded Redwood Bioscience, Enable Biosciences, Palleon Pharmaceuticals, InterVenn Bio, OliLux Bio, Grace Science LLC and Lycia Therapeutics. “People also use bioorthogonal chemistry for drug target identification, chemoproteomics and for constructing complex biologic therapeutics. I am especially excited about a company called Shasqi Pharmaceuticals that is performing bioorthogonal chemical reactions inside the 26 | NORDICLIFESCIENCE.ORG bodies of cancer patients as a means for delivery of chemotherapy drugs to tumor tissues,” she says. In 2020 California-based biotech Shasqi initiated the first human use of bioorthogonal chemistry, starting a Phase 1/2 clinical trial of a doxorubicin prodrug that exploits the tetrazine–TCO chemistry. The treatment is based on the pre-injection of a tetrazine-loaded hydrogel into the tumor site, followed by infusions of the doxorubicin prodrug. Only where the two components meet, at the tumor site, is the drug unleashed. For the future, Carolyn Bertozzi envisions the number of bioorthogonal reaction applications multiplying. “There are many ongoing efforts focusing on new reaction development and applications in biomedicine and other sectors like materials science,” she says. Scientists have many important roles in improving the human condition and in turn global stability. “Our technologies can lift people out of poverty, increase scare resources and access to them, mitigate disease and climate change,” she says. “All of this can contribute to peace if we execute well.” My path was unique Her advice to young women entering the science field is “Don’t take others’ advice too seriously”. “Most of the ‘advice’ I was given as a young scientist, while maybe good for other people, was not good advice for me,” says Bertozzi. “I had to figure out what worked for me as an individual – what path of study would best capture my interest and stoke my passions, who might be my most effective role models and advisors, who and what to steer clear of. My path was unique to me, and I would expect others, including young women scientists, to follow their own path to success,” she adds. “All of us need advocates and sponsors – that is universal for all professional people. So choose them wisely and build relationships and friendships that last a lifetime. People and your relationships with them are more important than any traditional metrics of success, as I see it. So make the investments in those relationships first and foremost,” Carolyn Bertozzi concludes. NLS