🧬 Noam Solomon - Immunai - Part 1 | Attending Undergrad at 14 Year Old | How Mathematics Can Make You a Lone Wolf | The Difference Between Noam’s Two PhDs | The Resilience Required for Entrepreneurship

The Biotech Startups Podcast

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Part 1 of 4.

My guest for this week’s episode is Noam Solomon, CEO and co-founder at Immunai, a pioneering biotech company that is comprehensively mapping and reprogramming the immune system with single-cell biology and AI to power new therapeutic discoveries, accelerate drug development, and improve patient outcomes.

Prior to co-founding Immunai, Noam had a career in both industry and academia. Noam has a double PhD in math and computer science and served as a postdoctoral researcher at MIT and Harvard. Noam also worked as an algorithms developer, consultant, and head of data science in several high-tech companies in Israel. Noam's extensive background in math, computer science, AI, and machine learning gives him a unique depth of experience that founders can learn from.

Join us this week and hear about:

• Noam's early years and how his upbringing shaped his high standards and competitive spirit which led him to excel in the world of academia
• His unique experience of starting university at the age of 14
• His early love for mathematics
• His pursuit of multiple PhDs in math and computer science
• The importance of resilience, critical thinking, and creativity needed as an entrepreneur

Please enjoy my conversation with Noam Solomon.

Timestamps:

00:28 Intro

02:11 Episode starts, upbringing in Israel with high family standards, the push into education and STEM

05:58 Becoming an undergraduate at 14 and the attraction to math, the enjoyment of finding creative solutions with sets

10:03 Mentors and professors who were inspirational, those who helped drive the inspiration of education

12:32 Determining next steps after undergrad, being drafted into the Army and decision to be a mathematician

14:43 Software engineering in the Army

16:16 Decision to pursue PhD in math and methodical science, Fermat's Last Theorem

18:48 Experience in grad school and the difficulties with solitude, how these skills benefitted being a CEO of a startup

21:35 Determining what to do after the PhD, postdoc, letting go of a childhood dream

23:46 Another PhD focused on computer science, more of a collaborative experience

27:32 Skill sets that were acquired during and finishing his postdoc in math

30:45 Outro

Find Our Guest, Noam Solomon, at this link:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/noam-solomon-142393129/

https://www.immunai.com/

Find Our Host, Jon Chee, at these links:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonchee

https://www.excedr.com

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Podcast Website: https://www.thebiotechstartupspodcast.com/

Enriched Notes:

Topics Mentioned:

MIT https://www.mit.edu/

Harvard University https://www.harvard.edu/

Immunai https://www.immunai.com/

Equipment Leasing for Laboratories https://www.excedr.com/leasing

Biotech Startup Support https://www.excedr.com/resources-category/biotech-startup-support

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