Based in Calgary, Alberta, Providence Therapeutics is a Canadian mRNA company focused on personalized cancer vaccines. During the pandemic, Brad Sorenson and his team developed a COVID vaccine that went head to head against Pfizer in clinical trials and held its own, yet almost no one in Canada ever heard about it.

In this episode, host Jim Wilson speaks with founder and CEO Brad Sorenson about a journey that is as personal as it is professional. In 2013, Brad's 13-year-old son Adam was diagnosed with glioblastoma and given a year to live. Thirteen years later, Adam is still here, and Brad walks through the extraordinary series of events that shaped both his son's survival and the company he built.

It is also a candid conversation about the realities of drug development in Canada and Brad's passionate call for the country to give patients the right to fight for their lives through compassionate access.

Cerebro Therapeutics is a biotech company based in Quebec City developing disease-modifying treatments for neurodegenerative disorders, with a primary focus on Parkinson's.

Unlike current therapies that only manage symptoms, Cerebro is working to stop the disease from progressing altogether.

In this episode, Jim Wilson speaks with president and co-founder Martin Levesque about a company that spun directly out of his research lab at Laval University.

Martin explains the science behind their approach, which combines immunotherapy and gene therapy to deliver protective antibodies across the blood-brain barrier in a single injection, and how a striking result in a mouse model convinced him the work needed to reach patients.

Martin also reflects on the leap from academic researcher to startup founder, the support of the Michael J. Fox Foundation, and why he believes the first treatment to halt Parkinson's could be made in Canada.

Based in Fredericton, New Brunswick, ResearchNB is the province's research funding agency. Think of the federal tri-councils CIHR, NSERC, and SSHRC combined into one and operating at a provincial level.

In this episode, Jim Wilson speaks with CEO Candice Pollack about an organization that has moved well beyond the traditional role of a passive funder. Candice explains how ResearchNB now actively connects researchers with industry, government, and community to make sure good research does not simply end up as a paper on a shelf, but moves toward real impact whether through commercialization, policy change, or better patient care.

Candice also makes a heartfelt case for New Brunswick as one of Canada's most underrated places for research and innovation, and why she believes the province's small, nimble approach is a strength rather than a limitation.

Node AI is a software as a medical device company based in Hamilton, Ontario using artificial intelligence to guide surgeons through endobronchial ultrasound, a critical procedure used to determine whether lung cancer has spread to the lymph nodes. Until now, surgeons performing it have essentially been navigating blind.
In this episode, Jim Wilson speaks with co-founder and CEO Mackensey Bacon about a company that grew out of a surgeon's simple observation: if a phone can recognize a face, why can't AI identify a malignant lymph node? Mackensey explains how that idea became a company with four clinical trial sites across Canada and an FDA submission on track for the end of the year.
Mackensey also reflects on the strength of Hamilton's life sciences ecosystem and what it takes to lead a startup alongside two of the best in their fields.

NovaSonix Healthcare is a medtech startup based in London, Ontario developing a portable attachment that converts any standard ultrasound machine into a real-time 3D scanner for musculoskeletal imaging. The goal is to give clinicians MRI-like image quality at the point of care, without the wait.

In Canada, patients with musculoskeletal injuries and diseases currently wait an average of 89 days for a medically necessary MRI.

In this episode, Jim Wilson speaks with co-founder and CEO Randa Mudathir about a company that began as a master's thesis project at Western University and found its footing after winning a pitch competition for bone and joint innovations.

Randa walks through how a team of five co-founders came together, how clinical feedback pushed the company to broaden its focus beyond osteoarthritis detection, and why she believes the technology is ready for its next stage.

With clinical pilots already underway, a pre-seed raise open, and Health Canada and FDA submissions planned for later this year, NovaSonix is moving fast.

Magellan Biomedical is a medical device company based in Toronto working on a problem that has been hiding in plain sight for almost a century. The fundamental tools used in cardiac catheterization have not meaningfully changed since 1929, and in some of the most critical procedures, conventional tools fail up to twenty percent of the time.

In this episode, Jim Wilson speaks with co-founder and CEO Ali Tavallaei about a device called the CAT Pilot, which gives surgeons precise local control over the tip of a catheter during minimally invasive cardiovascular procedures. Where conventional tools achieve roughly a twelve percent success rate crossing arterial occlusions, the CAT Pilot achieves ninety-two percent. Ali walks through how the technology works, how the company spun out of Sunnybrook Research Institute, and why he believes an acquisition is a likely outcome once FDA approval is secured.

This is a conversation about a long overdue disruption to a standard medical procedure, and a small Canadian team that decided to do something about it.

Dr. Lakshmi Krishnan is Vice President of Research (Life Sciences) at the National Research Council of Canada, one of the country's most influential science organizations in the country. The NRC connects industry, academia, and government to drive innovation and often is quietly behind-the-scenes helping steer some of the most significant advances in Canadian Life Sciences.

In this episode, Jim Wilson speaks with Lakshmi about her journey that began in Chennai, India, wound through New Delhi, Edmonton, and Ottawa, and eventually lead to her becoming one of the most senior leaders in the Canadian Life Sciences community.

Lakshmi shares insights about the mentors and unexpected moments that have helped shape her path, what it was like to lead the NRC's Life Sciences division through the COVID pandemic, and why she believes Canada is at a turning point in its ability to build and commercialize world-class science.

Today we reach into the archive to rebroadcast our interview with Maura Campbell, President & CEO of OBIO.

Maura is one of the key leaders in Canada's life sciences community and it was a pleasure to speak with her. Listen in as she shares her thoughts on surviving a severe car accident, some of the obstacles she has faced as a woman working in life sciences, the disappointment of doing everything right but still having a company fail, and how keeping an open mind is important to success.