Communicating a Breakthrough Technology to the World; Creating a Disruptive Narrative

Story-Telling, Media, Events, and Key Opinion Leaders

Animal testing has been the standard approach used in scientific research for 100 years. To educate the world, including a very skeptical scientific audience, that there is a credible new technology platform as a more effective alternative, would be an immense challenge.

Lewis led a comprehensive program of communications to introduce the new Organs-on-Chips technology, and drive early adoption of the platform. This included setting a disruptive narrative, translating the story across a mix of global media channels, summits and events, thought-leadership content, and activating expert key opinion leaders from academia, industry, and government.

Samples of the communications program include:

TEDx

To introduce the original Organs-on-Chips technology and vision to the world, Lewis worked with Dr. Geraldine Hamilton - the scientist leading the development at Harvard University’s Wyss Institute - to prepare a TED talk that she could present. The talk set the foundational narrative for the new technology, helping secure Series-A funding, and has since been viewed over 1.6 million times.

Link to the talk on the TED website:
> TED: Body Parts on a Chip

Mic.com

To extend the technology’s early story reach, the narrative was further played-out across popular online media outlets, including this Mic.com film as part of their ‘Future Present’ series. The content features the technology’s scientific founder, its potential to replace animal testing, and the translation from lab experiment at Harvard Univeristy’s Wyss Institute to commercialization by Emulate, Inc.

Wired Magazine and Health Conference

To build upon initial early buzz, Lewis produced this Wired Health keynote talk to help broaden the technology’s reach on a global basis. The 20-minute speech was given by Emulate’s Chief Scientific Officer to an audience of healthcare journalists and influencers, as well as being streamed internationally. Wired Magazine also produced an accompanying depth printed feature as well as online content.

Links to editorial and media coverage:

> Wired: Chips that Mimic Organs Could Be More Powerful Than Animal Testing
> Wired: Emulate is testing drugs on tiny human organ chips
> Wired: Want to test new drugs? Put a fake lung on a chip

Global Science Events

The AAAS Annual Meeting is the leading scientific global event - with the world’s top researchers and media in attendance. Lewis produced a keynote panel and global news briefing comprising of the technology’s founders and expert key opinion leaders, from top drug developers and academic institutions. Bill Gates also discussed Organs-on-Chips in his own keynote talk at the 2020 event.

Links to content:

> AAAS KeyNote Speech by Bill Gates: My Message to America’s Top Scientists
> AAAS Live Global News Briefing: Replicating Organs on Fill Gaps in Precision Medicine
> AAAS Editorial: Organs-on-Chips Present Innovative Model for Drug Development

Government Endorsement

Lewis worked to formulate a technology adoption program & media package with the US Food & Drug Administration to use the new platform for product safety testing by government. This included a formal press release approved by the FDA, editorial coverage in credible scientific journals, as well as the FDA Commissioner highlighting the new technology and partnership in his annual speech.

Links to related content:

> Press Release: FDA Signs Collaborative Agreement to Use Organs-on-Chips Technology
> FDA Commissioner Speech: Remarks to the 2017 FDA Science Forum
> Nature news article on FDA Adoption: Miniature Chips Could Boost Food Safety

Technology Adoption

Critical to the success of introducing the new technology platform was demonstrating adoption by a community and ecosystem of leading power users - including academics, disease researchers, pharmaceutical companies, clinical research organizations, healthcare providers, and government agencies. Lewis led efforts to create formal partnership announcements across the community.

Press releases by leading early adopters included:

> AstraZeneca: Emulate, Inc. and AstraZeneca Form Strategic Agreement to Work Side-by-Side

> Roche: Scientists from Emulate and Roche form innovative partnership to use Organ-Chips

> Takeda: Emulate and Takeda Partner to Use Intestine-Chip for New Drug Target Identification

> NIH: Emulate, Inc. Awarded Grant to Fund Use of Human Emulation System aboard the ISS

> M.J. Fox Foundation: Emulate Awarded Grant to Investigate Treatment of Parkinson’s Disease

> Covance: Emulate Announces Strategic Collaboration with Covance for Drug Evaluation

> Cedars-Sinai: Cedars-Sinai and Emulate Advance Precision Medicine With Organs-on-Chips

> J&J: Emulate Announces Strategic Collaboration with Johnson & Johnson Innovation

> USC: Emulate Announces Translational R&D Collaboration with Lawrence J. Ellison Institute

> FDA: FDA Signs Collaborative Agreement with Emulate, Inc. to Use Organs-on-Chips

National Geographic

Possibly the most humbling and proud moment of all the media coverage was to see the technology Lewis helped to design & launch being featured on the front cover of National Geographic magazine, dubbed as ‘The Future of Medicine’. Lewis also produced a short film explaining Emulate’s technology and vision, which NatGeo featured online and distributed to its global subscribers.

This short film was produced by Lewis and featured by NatGeo to its global subscribers:

Links to editorial and media coverage:

> NatGeo: How ‘Organs on a Chip’ Will Revolutionize Medicine
> NatGeo: The Future Of Medicine - How personalized medicine is transforming your health care

NASA / International Space Station

To extend the popular science reach of the new technology, Lewis worked with NASA and the International Space Station’s team to establish a narrative and highlight the collaborative work to learn more about how human biology behaves in space, using the Organs-on-Chips technology.

Links to content:

> NASA editorial: Science Flows From Space to Ground and Back
> International Space Station blog with video: Human Emulation on the ISS
> International Space Station blog: Emulating Human Biology With Tissue Chips

Other Notable Media Coverage

To introduce such a radical new technology and set a narrative for disrupting animal testing in scientific research with a credible new platform, Lewis led global programs to build media coverage across a broad range of influential publications and news outlets. Highlights include:

“Medical testing on humans is difficult and expensive. Testing on mice isn’t very accurate. What if we had miniature replicas of human organs to use instead?”

— FAST COMPANY

“A number of companies looking for new approaches to testing their drugs and other products are turning to “organs-on-chips” technology from Emulate Inc.”

— WALL STREET JOURNAL

“Miniature simulations allow scientists to study physiological mechanisms and behaviors in ways never before possible, creating opportunities for drug development”

— SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN

“Tiny 'Organ Chips' Promise Big Boost to Testing of Food, Drugs”

— NBC NEWS

“Organ-On-A-Chip Startup, Emulate, Grabs $45M to Shake Up Drug Discovery”

— FORBES

“Founders Fund is leading a $36 million investment in Emulate Inc., whose organs-on-chips technology could help drugmakers be more productive”

— WSJ

“This Technology Could Help Make Testing Cosmetics on Animals Obsolete”

— CULTURE TRIP

“It sounds futuristic, but it’s not sci-fi: Human organs-on-a-chip”

— CNBC

“Could organs-on-a-chip one day replace animals in medical testing?”

— STAT