A Chat with Jane Metcalfe: Entrepreneur; Editor; Advisor; Board chair of the Human Immunome Project; Founder & CEO of proto.life; cofounder and former president of WIRED

This week, Stephen Ibaraki has an exclusive interview with Jane Metcalfe.

Jane Metcalfe is an entrepreneur, editor, and advisor. She currently serves as the board chair of the Human Immunome Project, a global nonprofit whose wildly ambitious mission is to transform health and medicine by building the largest, most diverse set of advanced immunological data, and using that data to generate quantitative and predictive models of the human immunome.

She is also the founder and CEO of proto.life, a media and events company tracking the radical changes taking place in humans as we harness advanced biological and digital tools to engineer our own biology. She is the co-editor of the book, NEO.LIFE: 25 Visions for the Future of Our Species, featuring scientists, investors, artists, and science fiction writers on the topic of the "neobiological revolution," a phrase she coined to describe the extraordinary discoveries and inventions that are transforming our bodies, our minds, and our food systems.

Prior to proto.life, Ms. Metcalfe was the cofounder and former president of WIRED, whose businesses then included the magazine (US, UK, and Japanese editions), a suite of internet sites (including HotBot and WebMonkey), books, and TV. She also helped launch and served as the president of TCHO Chocolate, a premium American chocolate brand whose TCHOSource program transforms the lives of cacao farmers.

Metcalfe's past and present board seats and advisory roles include the Focused Ultrasound Foundation, the Berggruen Institute for Transformation of the Human, The Stone Research Foundation, UC Berkeley Foundation, the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, One Economy, Expressions Center for New Media, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.