She's Ready To Gene Edit Babies - EP 32 Cathy Tie

**Ashlee Vance** (0:00)
I saw your Instagram post, I think, today. It was awesome.

**Cathy Tie** (0:05)
Was it the Barbie one?

**Ashlee Vance** (0:06)
It's the Barbie one.

**Cathy Tie** (0:07)
Oh yeah, I love that movie. I was watching On The Plane yesterday coming to SF.

**Ashlee Vance** (0:12)
You're doing like, you're like biotech influencer now. That was like produced and everything.

**Cathy Tie** (0:19)
Yeah, Ashlee, okay, so for that video, it's my friend who's a videographer for like The Weeknd and Future, like those like rap artists and like hip hop artists. He made my favorite music video by The Weeknd called Reminder and then we met through like The Weeknd's like nonprofit group. And then I was like, hey, you probably don't know anything about gene editing, but you know, I can tell you about it. And also I want to make this fun video. And he flew to New York and made it very different than rap music videos, of course, but he put it all together. So shout out to Jard.

**Ashlee Vance** (0:48)
Yeah, well, I think we'll at least put a link in, but hopefully we can run a little of the footage while we're talking because it was awesome.

**Cathy Tie** (0:57)
Yeah, you gotta have fun, you know, sometimes once in a while.

**Ashlee Vance** (1:00)
Yeah. Cathy Tie, how are you?

**Cathy Tie** (1:19)
I'm good, how are you?

**Ashlee Vance** (1:20)
I'm good. We didn't know each other until relatively recently. I think we had, I'm sure we have many friends in, or at least acquaintances in common from biotech land. And then Josie Zaner, who you do, I've known Josie for many, many years.

**Cathy Tie** (1:37)
Oh, nice, yeah, she's amazing.

**Ashlee Vance** (1:39)
Yeah, the two of you were working on a project that we wrote about called the Los Angeles Project to do gene editing on animals may glow in the dark, buddies and things like that. And I think that got announced in January or February.

**Cathy Tie** (1:54)
Yeah, that was February, but we were working on it for the last like 18 to 24 months. Yeah, it's amazing. It's based in Austin and ideas, we want to make unicorns and dragons. It's all synthetic biology at the end of the day. So Josie and I were thinking about how to really use it to our full creative potential and make cool things. Yeah.

**Ashlee Vance** (2:15)
You had a busy year, because I wrote about that earlier in the year, that it feels like a million things have happened. We ended up following... All right, I'm going to step back before I get into this whole story. I mean, you are in the biotech field. You're kind of like a prodigy in some ways. I mean, you were working in a university lab when you were 15 or 16

**Cathy Tie** (2:40)
Yeah, it feels like I'm a Disney child star, but like biotech, you know?

**Ashlee Vance** (2:46)
Yeah, your bio reminds me a little bit of Laura Deming. You both talked your way into these university labs at a very young age and started publishing papers and doing things teenagers don't normally do. You ended up running, I think, two biotech companies.

**Cathy Tie** (3:04)
Yeah, before I started Los Angeles Project.

**Ashlee Vance** (3:07)
Right, and then you're a Teal Fellow.

**Cathy Tie** (3:09)
Yes.

**Ashlee Vance** (3:10)
And so you have this track record of, yeah, I mean, starting biotech startups that did well, and then did the Los Angeles Project, and then we have big news, which is just in the last month even out the Manhattan Project, which is exciting and controversial.

**Cathy Tie** (3:29)
It's been such a crazy year. Sorry, I talked to you last, like at least over a call, it was when I was stuck in Manila, Philippines, and I remember being so jet-lagged, but I'm in the middle of a shoot in Switzerland, somewhere in Northern Europe.

**Ashlee Vance** (3:44)
I was in Switzerland.

**Cathy Tie** (3:45)
Switzerland, yeah, and I snuck in a call with you, and you quickly turn around that amazing article, very well written, and it was just the most chaotic time in my life, and I feel like just a whole year has been insane. I feel like you saw it, front row seat, Los Angeles Project, Manila, Philippines, and now Manhattan Project, so happy to tell you all about it.

**Ashlee Vance** (4:06)
Yes, we're going to get into all this stuff. So we'll finish a bit of the Manhattan Project just to let people know where we're coming from. But just in the last month, you announced a new startup, new company based in New York.