Mining Bat Biology for Novel Therapeutic Strategies with Dr Lewis Hong of Paratus Sciences
About this episode
Dr. Lewis Hong discusses the innovative therapeutic strategies derived from bat biology at Paratus Sciences.
Dr. Lewis Hong is the Vice President of Paratus Sciences, a biotech company uncovering novel therapeutics by studying the extreme biology of bats. With a background spanning genomics research, pigmentation genetics at Stanford, and leadership roles in translational sciences at MSD, Lewis brings deep scientific and industry expertise to this pioneering field. In this episode, Lewis shares how Paratus was founded to explore bats as a unique model for human health. He explains how the company built a large-scale bat genomics and bioinformatics platform which combines global sample collection, industrial sequencing, and a powerful knowledge graph, to identify high-impact therapeutic targets. Lewis highlights Paratus’ two lead focus areas: • Immunology & inflammation , featuring theirASC inflammasome inhibitor program now entering IND-enabling studies; • Cardiometabolism , inspired by bats’ remarkablemetabolic resilience and cardiac performance. He also discusses the challenges of scaling bat genomics, the role of academic partnerships, building an R&D team in Singapore, and the broader trajectory of Singapore’s biotech ecosystem. Lewis closes with practical advice for…
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