The Life Scientific: Bahija Jallal
Discovery
BBC
4.3 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 30 October 2023
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Some of the most complex medicines available today are made from living cells or organisms - these treatments are called bio-pharmaceuticals and in this episode of The Life Scientific Dr Bahija Jallal, CEO of Immunocore, shares her story of leaving her home in Casablanca, Morocco to become a world leader in developing bio-pharmaceutical cancer treatments. She tells Professor Jim Al-Khalili that she has always found herself ahead of the curve. When she began in oncology, the study of cancer, the common treatment was chemotherapy which attacked all the cells in an affected area. Her first studies into cancer treatments were looking at how certain therapies could focus in on the cancerous cells and move away from what she describes as the 'sledgehammer' of traditional chemotherapy. It was an early step in what became known as targeted cancer therapies, and it set Bahjia on course for a career dedicated to developing innovative drugs to improve cancer patients' lives. Through a deep understanding of the science and a resolute commitment to putting treatments in the hands of people who need them, she has produced astonishing results.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Sport, but not as you know it. |
| 0:03.0 | Nothing is ever quite as expected. |
| 0:05.4 | Amazing sport stories from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:08.6 | If the story is rigly, contentious or hard to tame, I'll cover it. |
| 0:13.2 | Listen now wherever you get your BBC podcasts. |
| 0:17.2 | Hello, today we're talking about our immune systems, |
| 0:21.0 | our barriers against illness that pull up the drawbridge to infections. |
| 0:25.4 | But there are times when they can use a little more help. |
| 0:28.3 | And I don't just mean with smoothies or chicken soup. |
| 0:31.8 | New treatments are now able to change the behaviour of our immune system, |
| 0:36.0 | for example, to help it find cancerous cells that would otherwise go undetected. |
| 0:41.0 | These treatments aren't traditional pharmaceuticals, |
| 0:43.8 | which are often made from synthetic chemicals, |
| 0:46.2 | but bio-pharmaceuticals made from living organisms like bacteria or enzymes. |
| 0:52.2 | My guest today is a pioneer in such biotech therapies. |
| 0:55.8 | Behidja Jalal grew up in Casablanca |
| 0:58.4 | and pushed back against the expectations of Moroccan society at the time |
| 1:02.6 | to follow her dream and become a scientist. |
| 1:05.5 | Today she's a role model in business who also follows the best science |
| 1:10.3 | and with it she says her heart. |
| 1:12.6 | Behidja Jalal's CEO of Biotech Company Immunicor |
| 1:15.6 | welcome to the Life Scientific. |
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