Nizar Batada

Major props to Nizar Batada. This guy’s the real deal in biotech and cancer research – no cap. He’s a YC S22 founder, and he’s been crushing it for over 20 years in the game.

So, he kicked off with a solid academic run, doing his PhD at Stanford (yeah, Stanford, no big deal), then jumped into postdoc at Harvard with George Church – one of the biggest names in genetics and biotech. That’s where he really got the inside scoop on genomics, immunology, and bioinformatics. The dude’s a total nerd but the cool kind – the kind that can connect dots nobody else even sees.

Before jumping into startups, Nizar was leading a research lab at the University of Edinburgh, focusing on cancer immunology. That’s where he really started digging into how our immune system fights tumors. And get this – he discovered a subtype of tumor-infiltrating gamma delta T cells that actually hang out with better clinical outcomes in breast cancer. That’s some advanced stuff. Basically, he found a new piece of the puzzle that could change how we treat cancer forever.

Then, he rolled into 23andMe as a senior scientist in their therapeutics division. Think about it – working at a place that’s known for genetics, then taking that experience and moving into something even bigger. Now he’s the CEO and co-founder of Eugit Therapeutics, a company he started in 2022 with legendary biotech pioneer George Church. Eugit is all about making immunotherapies and tissue-targeting therapies more precise and works well, using what Nizar uncovered about those gamma delta T cells.

What’s wild about his process? It’s the perfect blend of academia, real-world biotech, and a relentless drive to crack the cancer code. His motivation? Pure passion for understanding biology at the deepest level and then actually building stuff that can save lives. It’s like he’s been on a mission to turn his research into the next generation of cancer treatments.

So, yeah, Nizar Batada isn’t just another scientist. He’s a guy who’s been in the trenches, found significant insights, and then jumped into the startup world to bring those insights to life. He’s the kind of person who’s not satisfied with just knowing – he wants to do. And that’s why he’s so important in the biotech space right now.