Naturejobs is celebrating Women in Science. Every day this week we’re interviewing an inspirational female scientist. Yesterday, we spoke to Roma Agrawal, structural engineer at WSP.
Today we’re in conversation with Una Ryan, the Chair of the Bay Area Bioeconomy Initiative and an angel investor in the San Francisco Bay Area. I met Una at a SynBioBeta event at Imperial College London in April this year, where she chaired an all-male panel on the venture capital climate in the Bay Area, and how it differs to that in the UK. Una was disappointed that the panel was comprised entirely of men, but noted that unfortunately there aren’t many female biotech venture capital investors to choose from.
This is something that Una is hoping to change. She invests a huge amount of time in young scientists—both male and female—to support them through their careers. I spoke to Una after her panel event to find out about how she became interested in science, and how she is hoping to inspire others.

