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I'm the Google whistleblower. The medical data of millions of Americans is at risk | Anonymous
When I learned that Google was acquiring the intimate medical records of 50 million patients, I couldn’t stay silent
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Erin Brodwin 👩🚀
“Two simple questions kept hounding me: did patients know about the transfer of their data to the tech giant? Should they be informed and given a chance to opt in or out?”
30d
A futuristic farming startup raised $260 million from Jeff Bezos and SoftBank on the promise of upending agriculture. Insiders are raising questions.
Plenty aims to revolutionize agriculture with vertical farming. Some former employees say its ambitions clashed with reality.
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Erin Brodwin 👩🚀
A SoftBank-backed startup called Plenty raised $260 million to transform agriculture using indoor vertical farming technology. Insiders are raising questions. Some said expectations exceeded reality; others said they felt unsafe.
30d
An unprecedented study suggests the Apple Watch can help detect heart problems. But very few people actually used it to do that.
The Apple Watch can detect heart problems like afib, according to a recent study. But few of the participants actually finished, suggesting there's work to be done in digital health.
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Erin Brodwin 👩🚀
Something I'm still thinking about with regard to this unprecedented Apple Watch study: how few people actually completed it.
businessinsider.com/apple-watch-he… pic.twitter.com/LX1beHh3JD
30d
Top 50
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Erin Brodwin 👩🚀
I got nominated for a thing! And you can vote for me! top50indigitalhealth.com ➡️You'll see my name at question #5 where it says "Reporter of the year: who is the go-to expert covering our industry?"
31d
A VC who just raised $30 million told us how he plans to place his bets on the future of biology
Zal Bilimoria, the managing director of Silicon Valley venture firm Refactor Capital, told Business Insider that "biology is eating the whole world."
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Erin Brodwin 👩🚀
.@zalzally's Refactor Capital just raised a new $30 million fund. (Consumer) biology is eating the world, he tells me.
40d
The man who helped create Google's life sciences venture is launching a biotech hub to help solve healthcare's biggest problem
Vik Bajaj, who helped start Verily, just launched Foresite Labs to give healthcare startups better access to data.
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Erin Brodwin 👩🚀
First, he helped create Google Life Sciences (now Verily). Then, he joined cancer-detection biotech Grail. Now, @vik_bajaj is starting a healthcare startup incubator. Meet Foresite Labs.
44d
The precarious path of e-cig startup Juul: From Silicon Valley darling to $38 billion behemoth under criminal investigation
Juul has rebranded three times, sold assets to Japan Tobacco, and attracted nontraditional investors including a marijuana company and hedge funds.
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Erin Brodwin 👩🚀
Juul is cutting ~500 jobs before year's end. Also, it just lost its chief marketing officer.
46d
BREAKING: Bankrupt poop-testing startup uBiome is shutting down
The company is converting its bankruptcy filing from Chapter 11 to Chapter 7, a much more serious form of bankruptcy.
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Erin Brodwin 👩🚀
SCOOP: uBiome is closing up shop and converting from chapter 11 bankruptcy to chapter 7 (liquidation)
73d
A startup that wants to use psychedelics to treat addiction just raised $6.2 million from the host of Shark Tank and the architect behind the world’s biggest cannabis grower
MindMed says it's pursuing FDA approval for psychedelic-inspired drug for opioid addiction. The drug has been modified so as to avoid the drug's hallucinogenic effects, according to MindMed.
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Erin Brodwin 👩🚀
Scoop: There's a new psychedelics startup on the block. They've just raised $6.2M from Shark Tank's @kevinolearytv and the architect behind the world’s biggest cannabis grower.
75d
Bankrupt poop-testing startup uBiome just lost the government approval that's required to run key tests
uBiome suspended sales of its clinical products on the heels of an FBI probe. Now, after filing for bankruptcy, the company has lost a key lab certification.
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Erin Brodwin 👩🚀
Scoop: uBiome, the microbiome startup that filed for bankruptcy earlier this month, has lost the government approval that's required to run key tests
75d
Silicon Valley's top startup hub just teamed up with a $1.4 billion company to help startups find new ways of creating drugs, food, and clothing with biology
Y Combinator and Ginkgo Bioworks have unveiled a partnership meant to give synthetic biology startups access to tools in exchange for equity.
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Erin Brodwin 👩🚀
Scoop: @ycombinator + its first bio startup, the $1.4 billion organism company @Ginkgo, unveiled a new partnership today. Startups get access to Ginkgo's cell-building tools; Ginkgo gets equity.
89d
Officials just confirmed 6 deaths and 380 cases of serious lung disease tied to vaping. Here are all the health risks you should know about.
Investigators don't know the cause and haven't identified a single common brand or drug across all of the cases. Here's what you need to know.
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Erin Brodwin 👩🚀
The CDC just released new figures on the spate of lung illnesses and deaths tied to vaping. It's now 380 (down from 450 as a result of updated methodology). Six deaths.
92d
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Erin Brodwin 👩🚀
Investigators have zeroed-in on one potential cause behind the spate of vaping-related lung illnesses. It's vitamin E acetate.
36d
MIT's Media Lab has an ambitious project that purports to revolutionize agriculture. Insiders say it's mostly smoke and mirrors.
MIT Media Lab staff faked key elements of its "personal food computer" project, insiders told Business Insider. In one instance, staff were told to place...
MIT's Media Lab has an ambitious project that purports to revolutionize agriculture. Insiders say it's mostly smoke and mirrors.
MIT Media Lab staff faked key elements of its "personal food computer" project, insiders told Business Insider. In one instance, staff were told to place herbs grown elsewhere into the boxes.
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Erin Brodwin 👩🚀
Scoop: Insiders say an ambitious MIT Media Lab food project relies on smoke-and-mirror tactics.
98d
Meet the 11 alt-meat startups vying for a bite of a $200 billion industry
The frontrunners are making beef-like burgers with ingredients from plants. Next come the startups who aim to make real meat from animal cells.
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Erin Brodwin 👩🚀
With so many(!) alt-meat companies at this year's #goodfoodconference, I took a minute to profile the ones leading the charge
- 4 make plant-based burgers like @BeyondMeat🌱
- 7 aim to make real, cell-based meat using animal cells 🥩
99d
Bankrupt poop-testing startup uBiome was banking on CVS selling its tests — but the chain just turned it down
"Given the circumstances surrounding uBiome, we'll be stopping shipments and, in the event product has already arrived in store, marking it as 'do not sell,'" a CVS spokesperson said.
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Erin Brodwin 👩🚀
Scoop via @ZTracer: CVS just decided against selling uBiome's poop-testing kits, dealing another blow to the bankrupt startup
100d
Buzzy microbiome startup uBiome just filed for bankruptcy
uBiome filed for bankruptcy on Wednesday. The company took on an $8 million loan that will help it to stay open while it searches for a buyer.
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Erin Brodwin 👩🚀
uBiome, the microbiome startup I've been covering for months, just filed for bankruptcy. HT @SomaBisWSJ
101d
Jeffrey Epstein had a 'Frankenstein'-like plan to analyze human DNA in the US Virgin Islands
Epstein pursued an outlandish scheme to launch a 'DNA mining' startup. Scientists said his plan made no sense.
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Erin Brodwin 👩🚀
Scoop: Jeffrey Epstein had a wacky plan to sequence people’s DNA—and to sell the data to drug companies.
101d
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Erin Brodwin 👩🚀
New: Jeffrey Epstein had a ‘Frankenstein’-like plan to analyze human DNA in the US Virgin Islands, and it reportedly pulled in $200 million.
71d
The startup behind the world's first marijuana breathalyzer just raised a fresh $30 million and offered a glimpse at how the device works
The marijuana breathalyzer could help distinguish between people who've used cannabis legally in the past and people who are currently high.
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Erin Brodwin 👩🚀
Hound Labs, a startup that aims to make the first marijuana breathalyzer, raised a fresh $30 million on Tuesday. They also put out the first study offering a glimpse of how the handheld device works.
'Law & Order' creator Dick Wolf is an investor.
109d
Poop from pets and infants created flaws in key science at uBiome, and now the buzzy startup is conducting an internal review of its foundational research
uBiome had a plan to go from citizen science project to serious health company. But research underlying its products was flawed from the start.
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Erin Brodwin 👩🚀
I was working on this piece for @businessinsider before I left to get married. Yesterday, we published it. uBiome ran clinical tests using scientific data that was flawed, insiders say. Now, uBiome + the journal that pubbed the research are investigating.
114d
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Erin Brodwin 👩🚀
Scoop: uBiome’s foundational science—the peer-reviewed paper behind its clinical and consumer tests—contained data from infants and pets.
115d
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Erin Brodwin 👩🚀
But the problems went deeper than that, insiders said: uBiome's basic science was flawed.
101d