BioBuilder Educational Foundation
44 episodes listed below
PRESS PLAY
Monthly episodes explore the impact of BioBuilder on the careers of our guests, from graphic designers to teachers, entrepreneurs, and students.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Zeeshan connects synthetic biology education to the practical choices, skills, and career paths of students, teachers, and biotechnology workers.
Zeeshan follows synthetic biology out of the lesson plan and into people's working lives. His interviews trace how BioBuilder experiences shape later choices, from Vivian Marmestein returning to teach at Western Reserve Academy to Tara Peterson moving from a high school…
A high school science poster helped land a biotech internship; your unfinished project might feel less small.
Press play if you want
Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A first-generation student story about science, access, and learning how to navigate college and networking.
Vanessa Maradi's story gives the episode its clearest shape: a junior at Pioneer Charter High School of Science in Saugus, Massachusetts, she links childhood reading to biology, psychology, and a real interest in science.
A grounded student-science story about reading the literature, building a project, and learning to explain it well.
Hannah Shinzawa's path through BioBuilder comes across as steady and practical, starting with an early pull toward biology and moving through a sophomore-year AP Bio class into more serious work with papers and the broader literature.
A grounded student story about finding confidence in synthetic biology.
Nicholas Rojas de Borda, a Revere High School senior, comes across as someone who has shifted from a humanities focus toward science through BioBuilder.
A former BioBuilder student returns as the Western Reserve Academy teacher leading the club.
Vivian Marmestein's path lands neatly where science meets teaching: a former BioBuilder student now leads the BioBuilder Club at Western Reserve Academy, where she also teaches.
A grounded biotech career story about building a toolkit across many roles.
Edwin Gonzalez's path reads as a steady move into science after an uncertain start in STEM. BioBuilder opens the first door, and a digitally shared poster presentation helps lead to an internship, which then grows into lab training, a biology degree at Suffolk University, and…
A student-to-scientist story that treats biotech as process, not glamour.
Susanna Dongkor's path is the center of the piece: a Harvard Medical School research project in senior year of high school, BioBuilder apprenticeship experience, a biochemistry degree from Simmons, and industry work that moved from MassBiologics to Orion Biotech.
A reunion episode that treats science as a path, not a finish line.
Life Changing Science closes the year with a reunion-style episode that treats BioBuilder less like a finished program and more like a living community.
A high school biology program where robotics, BioBuilder, and curriculum design meet.
Billy Carrier lays out how Volunteer High School turned freshman biology into BiSTEM 1, a program that ties the state bio course to career and technical training.
Mushroom culture from soil to society.
Clear neuroscience for curious minds.
Plant papers, jokes, and useful uncertainty.
Weed science, from genomes to paddocks.
Biomedical careers, described from the inside.
Human stakes behind biomedical progress.
Susanna Dongkor traces her route from a high school research project to a biotech career.
Dev Gupta joins BioBuilder as a rising junior at Alliance Academy.
Zeeshan sits down with Vanessa Maradi, a Pioneer Charter High School of Science in Saugus, Massachusetts junior whose interest in biology and psychology traces back to a childhood love of reading that still runs strong today.
Students learn techniques they'd normally encounter in their second or third year of college.
Zeeshan talks with Hannah Shinzawa about how her interest in biology started early and got sharper in sophomore year through AP Bio.
Aziz Shahan talks with Nathan Kurokwa, a rising senior at Pioneer Charter School of Science in Saugus, Massachusetts.
Nico talks about moving from humanities classes into science.
Aziz Shahan opens season four by welcoming Billy Carrier, a teacher at Volunteer High School in Tennessee.
In this Hitchhiker Guide-themed finale episode, the BioBuilder podcast revisits three past guests: bio-artist Karen Ingram who paints with bacteria using robots, Amino Labs CEO Julie Legault who ships biotech kits to 42 countries, and freshman neuroscience student Vanessa Maradi now at Boston University.
Zeeshan opens the season with Vivian Marmestein, now a science teacher at Western Reserve Academy.
Zeeshan opens with Nicole's path from Nairobi to Boston.
Zeeshan sits down with Edwin Gonzalez to trace a path that began with uncertainty and turned into a biotech career.
Zeeshan talks with Tara Peterson about how BioBuilder helped set her on a path into biotechnology.