Bioorthogonal Chemistry, from Conception to Clinical Translation – Carolyn R. Bertozzi

📅 Mar 18, 2026 Stanford CARE 18 MIN 463 VIEWS 15 SEGMENTS · 2 SPEAKERS

2026 Stanford International Lung Cancer Summit: Understanding Lung Cancer in People Who Have Never Smoked (Day 2) Day 2, Session 1 Presentation: Bioorthogonal Chemistry, from Conception to Clinical Translation Speaker: Carolyn R. Bertozzi, PhD Baker Family Director, Sarafan ChEM-H Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Chemistry and Professor (by courtesy) of Chemical & Systems Biology Department of Chemistry and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University

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Now, our next speaker needs no introduction to the Stanford audience because she is one of the most distinguished scientists and professors here at Stanford, Carolyn Bertozzi.

1 more exchange in this transcript

Cite this transcript

APA, MLA, BibTeX

APA

Bertozzi, C. (2026, March 18). Bioorthogonal Chemistry, from Conception to Clinical Translation – Carolyn R. Bertozzi [Interview transcript]. Stanford CARE. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/3030182/

MLA

Carolyn Bertozzi. "Bioorthogonal Chemistry, from Conception to Clinical Translation – Carolyn R. Bertozzi." Stanford CARE, 18 Mar. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/3030182/.

BibTeX

@misc{bertozzi2026_3030182,
  author       = {Carolyn Bertozzi},
  title        = {Bioorthogonal Chemistry, from Conception to Clinical Translation – Carolyn R. Bertozzi},
  howpublished = {Interview transcript, Stanford CARE. CEOInterviews.AI},
  year         = {2026},
  month        = {mar},
  url          = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/3030182/},
  note         = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}

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Key Quotes (1)

“The way that these drugs are made has been very messy. And that's because you have to find a way to do the chemistry to attach the drug to the antibody. And the old school ways of doing chemistry on proteins like antibodies usually leads to a kind of heterogeneous messy mixture of drug molecules. That's because people typically do chemistry to attach the drug to the antibody either on lysine side ”

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More interviews with Carolyn Bertozzi

Sugar on the brain | Carolyn BertozziSep 11, 2026 · Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute, Stanford · 52 min
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Carolyn Bertozzi: New Therapeutic Modalities Inspired by GlycoscienceSep 25, 2025 · NCATS NIH · 67 min
Ep42: Carolyn BertozziJun 11, 2025 · The Long Run with Luke Timmerman · 69 min
2016 Biology-Chemistry Colloquium: Carolyn Berotzzi, Stanford UniversityApr 02, 2025 · Stanford Chemistry · 8 min

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Also at Stanford University

Andrew HubermanAssociate Professor of Neurobiology and Ophthalmology; Host, Huberman Lab
Francis FukuyamaSenior Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies

About Carolyn Bertozzi

Carolyn Bertozzi, the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Chemistry at Stanford University and director of Sarafan ChEM-H, has continued to present on the development and clinical translation of bioorthogonal chemistry and its applications in cancer therapy. In 2025 and 2026 appearances, she discussed how her lab's work on bioorthogonal chemistry has enabled the creation of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) with site-specific drug attachment, noting that traditional ADC manufacturing can produce heterogeneous mixtures, which she said limits optimization. She also described her research on the cancer glycocalyx, including a therapeutic strategy that uses an antibody-enzyme conjugate to strip sialic acids from cancer cells, a "lawnmower" approach she said is being evaluated in clinical trials through the company Palleon Pharmaceuticals. At a 2026 Stanford lung cancer summit, she outlined how bioorthogonal chemistry is being used to develop new classes of cancer drugs, including ADCs being evaluated for lung cancer. Bertozzi has also spoken about her career and the broader scientific enterprise. In a 2024 interview, she reflected on how winning the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2022 changed her professional life, noting that her words now carry more weight and that she has had to manage a surge in invitations. She has emphasized the importance of diversity in science, stating that diverse groups are better equipped to solve complex problems and think creatively. In a 2023 interview, she said her lab places a high premium on diversity, equity, inclusion, and respect, and that this culture allows her group to pursue risky, out-of-the-box problems. She has also discussed the importance of basic science, saying in her Nobel lecture that bioorthogonal chemistry demonstrates how curiosity-driven research can lead to practical applications, and in a 2022 video that "without basic science, there is nothing to translate."

All Carolyn Bertozzi appearances → Stanford CARE on YouTube →