Joshua Price (‘18): Building biotechnology through empathy and design thinking

Edited by Anna Liang

Joshua is a recent UC Berkeley graduate with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and Molecular and Cellular Biology. As a Fung Fellowship alumni, he shares more about what he’s doing now and the lessons he learned from the Fung Fellowship.

Tell us about yourself.

“I grew up in Dublin, CA in the East Bay. At Berkeley I double majored in mechanical engineering and MCB (biochemistry and molecular biology emphasis) with a minor in EECS. I came into college wanting to start a company in the autonomous vehicles sector, but that changed when I took Bio 1A with Jennifer Doudna — I became fascinated with that class and decided to work on problems in biology and health after that. I’m now an engineer at the intersection of those fields.

What is one cause that you’re passionate about now?

I’m passionate about developing treatments and cures to genetic disorders. So many people are born with genetic conditions that hold them back in life. Take multiple sclerosis, for example. People with MS usually live healthy lives through their childhood and development, then as a young adult, they are hit with the symptoms of the disease which progress over time until they’ve lost essential bodily functions such as movement and speech. It’s heartbreaking because it can take away a person’s sense of control over the direction of their life. The discovery of CRISPR in this decade has brought immense hope that new treatments for many genetic diseases will be brought to clinics soon. I hope to help develop new approaches to diseases using CRISPR and other technologies in my career.

What attracted you to the Fung Fellows Program?

I was attracted to the Fung Fellows program because it seemed like a great way to meet and work with a group of students who care about tremendous problems in health and want to address them through their careers.

What was your biggest learning in the Fellows program?

My most valuable takeaway from my time in the Fung Fellowship was how essential it is to engage with people in the communities you are trying to help when developing a new venture. Seeing and hearing what target users’ lives and problems are not only leads to better ideation, but it also makes the problem solving process more meaningful. Through my project in the Fung Fellowship I got to meet and develop relationships with patients suffering from neurodegenerative diseases, their families, and their doctors.

Truly seeing how my work could help people added a much deeper meaning to my project than any other I worked on during my undergraduate years.

My team partnered with the Bove Lab at UCSF Neurology to develop a sensing toolkit that can detect the onset of neurodegeneration in patients with a focus on multiple sclerosis. Using VR goggles, a microphone, accelerometers, and custom data analysis software, we developed a data-driven clinical test that mimics the standard neuroexam that many neurologists conduct to detect neurological issues in patients.

To understand the process of disease onset and diagnosis, we shadowed neurologists and got to talk with patients about their conditions. It was heavy stuff, but it was important for us to see. I learned that being a good doctor often means simply listening and being supportive as a fellow human, especially when there is no cure for a patient’s condition. Over the course of our project, I developed a friendship with a woman living with MS outside of the clinic and came to understand her lifestyle and dreams.

What do you hope to accomplish in your career? Has the Fung Fellowship influenced it at all?

I want to start a company in the biotechnology or medical technology industries. I hope to bring advancements in science and technology into the marketplace in a way that is accessible to as many people as possible. My experiences in the Fung Fellowship made me want to focus my efforts on helping people through advancements in health and wellness, which is why I am now focused on bio- and medical technology.

What is the best piece of advice you’ve gotten, or alternatively, what advice would you give to Fung Fellows?

My advice for current Fung Fellows is to form bonds with people through the program and keep in touch with them! The students in the Fung Fellowship will undoubtedly go on to do great things and by connecting with them, you’re increasing the odds that you will too. I am now close friends with several people I got to know through the Fellowship, and we might just work together later in our lives as we pursue ventures in health and wellness.

In addition to the students, the program faculty, staff and guest speakers in the program are incredible resources. Jennifer Mangold (current FF Director) has become a mentor of mine and has given me lots of career advice beyond the confines of the classroom. In addition to meeting with me outside of class, she generously wrote a recommendation letter for me and offered to be a reference in my job search. My project partner/advisor, Dr. Riley Bove at UCSF, also has given me professional advice and supported me in my job and grad school application processes.

What are your plans for this next chapter in your life?

I’m currently an engineer at Synthego, a company in Menlo Park that is fueling the CRISPR revolution in biology and medicine. I’m also about to start a Masters program in Biomedical Informatics at Stanford, which I’ll be completing part-time while continuing my work at Synthego. At Synthego and Stanford I’m learning as much as I can about how to start and grow a successful company while meeting people to jump into a venture with in the coming years.”

Connect with Joshua.

Learn more about the Fung Fellowship at fungfellows.berkeley.edu.