Building tools to elucidate life with Ryan Flynn (Harvard)

In this episode, I converse with Prof. Ryan Flynn, an Assistant Professor at Boston Children’s Hospital in the Stem Cell Program and in the Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology Department at Harvard University. Ryan completed his M.D. and Ph.D. in Cancer Biology in the MSTP at Stanford University and received his B.S. in Biology from MIT.

The Flynn lab develops chemical tools to study the interface of RNA biology and glycobiology in the context of cell state transitions and cell-cell communication. We talk about his incredible journey in basic science after initially wanting to become a surgeon; outstanding mentors like Nobel laureate Phil Sharp, a legendary figure in RNA biology, and Carolyn Bertozzi, a pioneer of glycobiology; fascinating research on glycans and developing tools for glycobiology; starting a lab during a pandemic; and many more things!!