--- title: Revolutionizing Drug Discovery & Manufacturing through Advanced Bio Systems description: Behzad Mahdavi explains how technology is disrupting the traditional way of developing drugs for the better. image: https://info.elementalmachines.com/hubfs/LabOps%20Card%20-%20Behzad%20Mahdavi.png --- [Skip to content](https://info.elementalmachines.com/labops-leadership-podcast-episodes/revolutionizing-drug-discovery-manufacturing-through-advanced-bio-systems#main-content) [![logo-em-black](https://info.elementalmachines.com/hubfs/logo-em-black.svg "logo-em-black")](https://elementalmachines.com/) [Back to Home](https://elementalmachines.com/) [Login](https://dashboard.elementalmachines.io/sign_in) # Revolutionizing Drug Discovery & Manufacturing through Advanced Bio Systems ![Revolutionizing Drug Discovery & Manufacturing through Advanced Bio Systems](https://info.elementalmachines.com/hubfs/LabOps%20Card%20-%20Behzad%20Mahdavi.png) March 16, 2023 By [Outcomes Rocket Network](https://info.elementalmachines.com/labops-leadership-podcast-episodes/author/outcomes-rocket-network) In this episode, Behzad Mahdavi, Senior Vice President of Biopharma Manufacturing and Life Sciences Tools at Ginkgo Bioworks, talks about the groundbreaking work done with their platform technology to optimize drug discovery and manufacturing. Ginkgo performs highly automated biological experiments on new modalities built on advanced complex biological systems, enabling the rapid development of advanced therapies in manufacturing settings. Behzad explains why this novel approach integrates manufacturing and biological optimization to deliver high-quality, life-saving functions that can be made faster, safer, and cheaper. He also shares how any company within the pharma industry seeking to optimize drug development can use the Ginkgo platform. Tune in to learn more about Ginkgo’s work and resources for development optimization! ## **Summary:** Technology is disrupting the traditional way of developing drugs for the better. ### **About Behzad Mahdavi:** Behzad Mahdavi is the Senior Vice President of Biopharma Manufacturing & Life Sciences Tools at Ginkgo Bioworks. He is a global strategic growth leader with extensive experience in creating and leading impactful, innovative, patient-centric growth strategies within challenging environments in the biopharma, cell, gene therapy, and personalized medicine sectors. He has operated in various positions like executive, CEO, chairman, board member, investor, entrepreneur, and founder. He has worked both for large organizations like CRIBIQ, Lonza, and Catalent, as well as the smaller ones, including the startups like Exosomics, and Electron Technologies in various life sciences fields ranging from early cancer detection to biopharma with a high focus on the cell and gene therapy and manufacturing of new modalities.  He joined Ginkgo as an SVP of the BioPharma Manufacturing and Life Science Tools last August, leading Ginkgo’s commercial effort in the growing areas of bioreagents, cell and gene therapy, and new biopharmaceutical.  On the educational side, he studied in France, where he completed his chemical engineering school and master’s degrees, and then his Ph.D. in electrochemistry in Canada. ### **Things You’ll Learn:** - The addition of new therapeutic modalities in pharma is accelerating exponentially. - The faster the growth of a novelty therapy, the more biologically complex it tends to be, and therefore, limited time to understand and optimize the biological component of the drug before getting it to market, causing a high cost of manufacturing at scale. - Safety is always one of the main concerns in drug and technology development. - People don’t usually appreciate the hundreds of drug candidates in clinical trials. - When a drug reaches manufacturing, it’s too late to engage with its biological component. - Ginkgo is a platform open and available to the pharma industry for their benefit and development. ### **Resources:** - Connect with and follow Behzad Mahdavi on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/behzadmahdavi/). - Follow Ginkgo Bioworks on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/ginkgo-bioworks/). - Explore the Ginkgo Bioworks [Website](https://www.ginkgobioworks.com/)! - Reach out to Behzad at [BMahdavi@GinkgoBioworks.com](mailto:BMahdavi@GinkgoBioworks.com) - Connect with and follow co-host Kerri Anderson on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/kerrianderson127/). - Connect with and follow co-host Samantha Black on [LinkedIn.](https://www.linkedin.com/in/samanthablackphd/) [facebook](http://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Finfo.elementalmachines.com%2Flabops-leadership-podcast-episodes%2Frevolutionizing-drug-discovery-manufacturing-through-advanced-bio-systems&title=revolutionizing%20drug%20discovery%20&%20manufacturing%20through%20advanced%20bio%20systems) [twitter](http://twitter.com/intent/tweet?original_referer=http%3A%2F%2Felementalmachines.com&text=revolutionizing%20drug%20discovery%20&%20manufacturing%20through%20advanced%20bio%20systems&url=https%3A%2F%2Finfo.elementalmachines.com%2Flabops-leadership-podcast-episodes%2Frevolutionizing-drug-discovery-manufacturing-through-advanced-bio-systems) [linkedin](http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Finfo.elementalmachines.com%2Flabops-leadership-podcast-episodes%2Frevolutionizing-drug-discovery-manufacturing-through-advanced-bio-systems&title=revolutionizing%20drug%20discovery%20&%20manufacturing%20through%20advanced%20bio%20systems&source=http%3A%2F%2Felementalmachines.com) [LabOps Leadership Podcast](https://info.elementalmachines.com/labops-leadership-podcast-episodes/tag/labops-leadership-podcast) ## Never miss a beat... ##### Subscribe to our bi-monthly **EM Connect Newsletter** to stay up-to-date on all things LabOps, biotech, and more! Sign up now ## Related Articles ### [Behind the Scenes of Medication Development: Nurturing Work Relationships in LabOps](https://info.elementalmachines.com/labops-leadership-podcast-episodes/behind-the-scenes-of-medication-development-nurturing-work-relationships-in-labops) In this episode, Anzhelika Kabro, Associate Director of Chemical Sciences at Paraza Pharma,... ### [Operations as an Integrated Function for Medicine Development](https://info.elementalmachines.com/labops-leadership-podcast-episodes/operations-as-an-integrated-function-for-medicine-development) In this episode, Shailah Yazdani, Director of Operations at the Center for Breakthrough Medicines... ### [Effective Communication as the Backbone of Successful Operations Management](https://info.elementalmachines.com/labops-leadership-podcast-episodes/effective-communication-as-the-backbone-of-successful-operations-management) In this episode, Omri Paran, Senior Director of Operations and Practice Leader at Azzur Cleanrooms... ## Search our content Search ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Outcomes Rocket Network", "url" : "https://info.elementalmachines.com/labops-leadership-podcast-episodes/author/outcomes-rocket-network" }, "dateModified" : "2023-04-06T15:03:13.656Z", "datePublished" : "2023-03-16T15:03:00.000Z", "headline" : "Revolutionizing Drug Discovery & Manufacturing through Advanced Bio Systems", "image" : [ "https://info.elementalmachines.com/hubfs/LabOps%20Card%20-%20Behzad%20Mahdavi.png" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://info.elementalmachines.com/labops-leadership-podcast-episodes/revolutionizing-drug-discovery-manufacturing-through-advanced-bio-systems", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://info.elementalmachines.com/hubfs/EMLogo_Horizontal_Blue@2x-3.png" }, "name" : "Elemental Machines" } } ```