How South San Francisco Went From Industrial City to Biotech Hub

Bay Curious

KQED

Places & Travel, Society & Culture, History

4.8 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 5 March 2026

⏱️ 16 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When scientists began tinkering with DNA in the 1970s, biotechnology was not welcome in leafy residential neighborhoods or many college towns. But it was embraced by an industrial city by the Bay. In today's episode we come to learn how South San Francisco became one of the world's most valuable hubs of biotech. Additional Resources: How South San Francisco Became the Birthplace of Biotechnology Read the transcript for this episode Sign up for our newsletter Got a question you want answered? Ask! Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts This story was reported by Lesley McClurg. Bay Curious is made by Katrina Schwartz, Christopher Beale and Olivia Allen-Price. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on Team KQED. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for KQED Podcasts comes from San Francisco International Airport. At SFO, you can shop,
0:07.6	dine, and unwind before your flight. Go ahead, treat yourself. Learn more about SFO restaurants and
0:14.4	shops at flysfo.com. Hey, I'm Morgan Sugg from KQED's internet culture podcast, Close All Tabs, and we're bringing
0:21.9	the web to the stage. On Thursday, March 5th, I'm hosting chronically online, a PowerPoint party at KQED.
0:27.8	It'll be a fun night of internet deep dives, niche rabbit holes, and chaotic slide decks, featuring
0:32.6	internet culture researcher Aidan Walker, journalist Candace Lim, and a few brave audience members. If you can't be
0:38.4	with us in person, we will be live streaming, but we would love to see you IRL. So join us on
0:43.4	March 5th. Get tickets at kQED.org slash live. That's kQED.org slash live. From KQED.
0:52.2	Hey everyone, I'm Olivia Allen Price, and this is Bay Curious.
0:56.7	Today, we head to South San Francisco.
0:59.4	You pass it when you're driving north from the airport along Highway 101.
1:03.6	There are these giant white letters carved into the hillside.
1:07.3	They read, the industrial city.
1:10.1	They used to be like meatpack packing plants and steel foundries.
1:13.7	Ferris Ali Khan grew up in South San Francisco, went to high school there, and about half of his
1:18.6	graduating class went on to work in biotech. His mom did too.
1:23.1	Why did it become, you know, this hub of biotechnology? People move here from all around the world to work in that one industry.
1:33.8	Biotechnology is a process.
1:36.0	Scientists take a living cell, like yeast or bacteria, and program them to make medicine.
1:42.6	They grow those cells in massive tanks, kind of like a brewery, and harvest what the cells
1:48.6	produce to make vaccines, antibiotics, and cancer treatments.
1:53.8	Today, there are more than 250 biotech companies in South San Francisco, including Genentech.
	...

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