How Sean Parker’s biotech education is shaking up science

Sean Parker, who made his billions on the likes of Napster and Facebook, has spent the last few years focused on cancer immunotherapy, bringing with him loads of money, some self-taught expertise, and an infusion of glamor to the often staid world of academy.

Speaking to STAT in his most extensive interview on the topic, Parker explained how he became fascinated with immuno-oncology and why he put $250 million of his own fortune into the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy. It’s a story that spans from Sting’s villa in Tuscany to a dream home next door to the Playboy Mansion, with a cameo from an 8-foot ice sculpture of a Nobel Prize sweating it out in the Texas heat.

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As for PICI, the ambitious goal is to take on some of the most vexing hurdles in cancer research, and scientists say Parker’s work has already moved the needle. Now, with that initial $250 million mostly spoken for, the institute is increasingly looking to other sources of funding, including some outside-the-box approaches.

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