Location
United States
Areas of Expertise
Expert Bio Raymond McCauley is a scientist, engineer, inventor, investor, and entrepreneur working at the forefront of biotechnology, with expertise spanning DNA sequencing, CRISPR, genetics, medicine, agriculture, and advanced manufacturing. As Principal of Exponential Biosciences, Chair of Digital Biology at Singularity University, and Resident Mad Scientist at EY, Raymond bridges cutting-edge science and real-world business strategy, helping companies and individuals understand and capitalize on the exponential pace of biological innovation. He served as a theme advisor to ARK Invest and was part of the team at Illumina that developed next-generation DNA sequencing, contributing to breakthroughs in bioinformatics, cancer sequencing, and personal genomics. Raymond is also the co-founder and Chief Architect of BioCurious, the world's first biotech hackerspace, and serves as a Board Member at Conservation X Labs, a nonprofit dedicated to preventing the sixth mass extinction. His postgraduate studies span Texas A&M University, Stanford, and UC Berkeley, covering electrical engineering, computer science, biophysics, molecular biology, bioinformatics, nanotechnology, and cancer biology. A sought-after speaker and thought leader, his work has been featured in Wired, Time, CNBC, The Financial Times, El País, Science, Nature, and Forbes, which famously dubbed him a "DNA Tsunami." Raymond is also a passionate STEM education advocate, believing that science communication and hands-on biological exploration should be accessible to everyone from kindergarteners onward.
Sessions Digital Biology: Life is the New Black
Biotechnology is an exploding field. Since the completion of the human genome project in 2001, genetics has been transformed into a digital information technology, becoming faster, easier, and cheaper, year after year. These advances drive bio-based innovations to medicine, agriculture, energy, materials, and more, with world-changing ramifications. Tools once restricted to biotechnology professionals are democratizing, becoming more like personal computers and smartphones, and appearing everywhere. What does this mean for our jobs, our families, our lives, and ourselves? And what's coming next?
This foundational talk in one of the most important technologies of the 21st century is intended for general audiences, but can be customized to fit any particular group or sector. Upon request, interactive activities or workshops (personal genetic testing, DNA extraction labs, targeted ethics discussions) can be included along with the presentation.
The Next Big Thing in Biotech - More Than One Way to Make a Unicorn
What makes a breakthrough biotechnology company? Where are today's hot areas for investment? Where in the world are these developing? And how can you avoid the common mistakes new investors make?
Upon request, we will talk about both public and private investment strategies, example successes and failures in the field, specific risks inherent to the sector, and ways that an active investor can help de-risk their portfolio.
This talk is aimed at two kinds of investors: the successful biotech veteran investor, hoping to grasp new opportunities in the field, and the aspiring institutional, family or angel investor who has been interested in biotechnology investments, but does not have the background to understand the dynamics of pharma and biomedical plays.
Programming Medicine, the Death of Pharma, and the Rise of AI-Driven Healthcare
Could human disease have an expiration date? We're living in an era where we might see all communicable diseases, from Ebola to the common cold, become a thing of the past. And that's just where we start. Learn about the renaissance in genetic engineering, new applications for stem cells, how AI is saving lives, and why the future of pharma looks less like Pfizer and more like Amazon.
Medicine has largely resisted digital disruption up until now. But it's a new world, where machine learning and genetic technologies are becoming tools in clinics, big-data-driven approaches to prevention are saving lives and redefining aging, and wearable biosensors are everywhere. Are we ready for Big Brother with a stethoscope? What does this mean for people in the business of healthcare? Not just health systems, but also governments, insurance, financial advisors, and each of our families and selves. We'll cover who may be the big winners and losers, as well as some tips for living longer.
The Fast Forward Future of Food
Few things are more intimate than a family meal, or the sustenance we take into our bodies. But technology is having huge effects on every single thing about our food, from the application of new sensors, robots, and AI in agriculture, to using gene editing and tissue engineering to affect the very nature of our livestock and crops.
Agriculture and food as we know it is undergoing the biggest transformation since humanity first domesticated plants and animals over 10,000 years ago. Biotechnology is finding ways to feed the billions of people being born. Key topics include the current and future state feeding the planet, cellular agriculture, and our embrace of GMO & gene-editing technologies to grow more food sustainably.
Can the perfect personalized diet now be planned with nutrigenomics, grown in a vertical greenhouse, then delivered to your automated kitchen using new tech and business models? Maybe. Find out when we discuss the fast forward future of food.
Upon request, this talk can be customized to focus more on either global issues and macrotrends, or on commercial and personal consumer choice.
Live Forever or Die Trying - the Business of Longevity
A special briefing on the future of longevity in medicine. Will you live to reach 100? Why stop there? New technologies are promising to continue the trend of the last century, which saw a doubling of human lifespan. Is there a limit to old age? What technologies actually work? What can you and your family do today to live longer tomorrow?
This topic can include sections on breakthroughs, investing, and maximizing personal health and choices for increased longevity, tailored to either a general audience or a specific sector (pharma, insurance, healthcare organizations, etc.).
Introduction to Exponentials with Raymond McCauley
We live in an era where the explosive growth of technology reshapes industries, economies, our daily lives, and even the planet itself. We've seen the ascendance of tech like machine learning, quantum computing, and biotechnology. These seem to move faster than a ferret on caffeine. What do they have in common? Where will they end up? How can we make good predictions about their effects?
The most important thing to come out of Silicon Valley may not be the microchip, the iPhone, or any particular invention, but the concept of Moore's Law -- that our very tools get better, cheaper and faster, and this leads to more breakthroughs, in a never-ending cycle. This disruptive innovation has been the driver for many success stories in our lifetimes.
At the same time, Silicon Valley -- and the world economy -- is not what it used to be. Can these ideas still apply during times of ambient uncertainty, pandemics, climate crises, deglobalization, and high interest rates?
We'll also cover: What exponential success looks like. What comes after Moore's Law? How can business models based on crowdsourcing, collaboratories, and convergence produce more successes? What does it look like to remain competitive in an exponential world? How do we educate our workforces -- and our children -- when information doubles every 12 hours (and can that really be true)?
Business Lessons from Biotech and the Biohacking Underground
Lessons learned from working in an exponential industry. How can you keep up when the world is in a state of permanent technological revolution? Using the principles that helped build some of the technology success stories of the last decade, Raymond shares recommendations for tackling pressing business challenges—such as how to surf the waves of exponential change, build and manage interdisciplinary teams, leap ahead of competition with prototyping, and when to embrace (or shun) disruption.
It's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow
How digital and bio technologies are driving the Great Tech Leap Forward, showing us new ways to work, and saving the world, with digressions on when robots will steal your jobs, why Big Brother will look more like Big Sister, and your future in the Selfie Economy
Harnessing Your Superintelligence
Do you feel like the world zooms forward, with giant leaps in technology, and you're still floundering with 20th century tools, trying desperately to cope? Are you ready for a personal, cognitive upgrade? Find how small startups beat better capitalized and established players. Learn how these same strategies can help you personally, or as part of a bigger endeavor. In this workshop, Raymond shares these lessons learned from biotechnology and the biohacking underground to keep up better with a world in a state of permanent technology revolution.
Specifically, learn how to: surf the progress waves of exponential technologies, use prototyping to beat planning methodologies, be interdisciplinary for yourself or as part of a team, harness new tools like hackerspaces and crowd-sourcing, and share best practices and interact with other bootstrappers.
How to Build a Biohacker Lab
Garage labs. Kitchen labs. Startup labs. Pitfalls and promises, and best practices for figuring out how to deal with safety, equipment, regulations, funding, out-sourcing, and community. Setting up an educational, vocational, or accelerator lab in your community.
"To Boldly Grow..." - Biotechnology in Space topics: space, biotechnology, startups
Next to cheap access to orbit, biotechnology is the most enabling technology for space exploration, travel and commerce. Learn about the future of closed environment life support systems, microgravity research, radiation hardening, hibernation, and terraforming.
Programming Biology and Hacking Darwin - Life in the Biotech Century
What happens when biology meets Moore's Law? The same forces that turned computing from a specialists' tool into something your grandmother uses are now hitting biotechnology, and the results are stranger, faster, and more consequential than almost anyone realizes.
Biology is now an engineering discipline. DNA is a programming language. And the tools to read, write, and redesign living systems are now cheap, fast, and increasingly powered by AI.
In this session, Raymond McCauley cuts through the hype to show executives what's actually happening at the intersection of biotechnology, longevity, and artificial intelligence. Drawing on decades at the frontier of biotech, genomics, and digital biology, Raymond maps how the biotech landscape is moving from sci-fi to supply chain and explains what it means for your business, your health, and the world your kids will inherit.
You will leave with an understanding of where biotech is going and why it matters to people who aren't biologists, a clear mental model for evaluating breakthroughs, opportunities and risks, and at least one idea that will keep you up at night.
