Why Life Science Companies Need to Reclaim the Power of Storytelling

The Big Chill moment that made me rethink how we talk about science
By Meghan O'Sullivan

The other night The Big Chill was on, so I did my usual routine: hit “info” to check the year and see how old the actors were back then. And then I saw it. The movie description. Either the work of a well meaning intern, or more likely AI. 

“A group of old college friends sit around, listen to records, and talk.”
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I called my husband into the living room and we had a good laugh. “Technically accurate. Emotionally bankrupt.” I said with a grin. You see, the description failed to mention that it’s about a group of college friends who reunite after 15 years for the funeral of one of their friends, who committed suicide. Or that the film explores themes of friendship, loss, disillusionment, and the passage of time.

That’s the story. Strip it down and you lose the soul of it.

It made me wonder; is storytelling lost on the next generation? And then I realized that maybe it’s not just a generational issue. Maybe it’s that AI is forcing us to undersell ourselves.

We bury the why in a sea of how.
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• A therapeutic that could save a life becomes: a novel modality targeting an unmet need.
• A diagnostics platform that gives families answers becomes: an integrated system for improved sensitivity and throughput.
• A groundbreaking cancer screening tool is framed as: a scalable solution for liquid biopsy optimization.

The result? A lost opportunity to connect, not just with customers, but with patients, partners, and investors. Because no matter how brilliant your science is, if people don’t feel something, they won’t remember it.

So Why Are Life Science Companies So Reluctant to Embrace Storytelling?

Here are the five most common reasons life science companies have given me over the years, for not focusing on their story.

- "It feels forced.”
- “Our CEO is really low-key."
- “What we do isn’t that exciting.”
- “It’s too complicated to explain.”
- “Only a small audience really gets what we do.”

​​Enough with the excuses. I’m calling them out one by one!

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Excuse #1: “It feels forced.”

The Truth:
Then you’re telling the wrong story or telling it the wrong way. A good story never feels forced. It feels real. When you focus on the real impact of your work on patients, researchers, or even on the planet it becomes natural to tell. You don’t need to manufacture drama; you need to reveal the humanity behind the science. Start with the people side of it.

Example:
Imagine your company builds robotic automation for high-throughput screening. On the surface, it’s about precision, speed, and efficiency. But behind the hardware is something far more human.
Because of that automation, a diagnostic lab was able to process thousands more samples each week, cutting turnaround time from days to hours. That meant a newborn with a rare metabolic disorder got the right treatment before symptoms even appeared. It meant a father with aggressive cancer started therapy while it could still make a difference.

The story isn’t about robotics. It’s about what happens because of robotics. Faster answers. Earlier interventions. Lives changed. Lives saved. A title for this story could be: The Heartbeat Behind the Hardware.
 
Excuse #2: “Our CEO is very low key.”

The Truth:
You don’t need a flashy spokesperson to tell a powerful story. In fact, some of the most compelling narratives come from quiet leaders who speak with conviction, not charisma. The key is to meet them where they are. Let them speak in their own voice. Maybe it’s a reflective quote on why they started the company, or a brief anecdote that anchors the mission.

And if they’d rather stay behind the scenes? No problem. Let the science team, a patient advocate, a partner, or even a customer be the voice. Storytelling isn’t about spotlighting the loudest person it’s about illuminating the purpose behind your work. Authenticity beats volume every time.

Excuse #3: "What we do isn’t really that exciting.”

The Truth:
Not exciting? You’re developing life-saving diagnostics, pushing the frontiers of biotech, decoding disease, or engineering the next generation of therapies. If that’s not exciting, what is? The challenge is not what you do, it’s how you talk about it.

Example:
Let’s say your company develops quality control software for clinical labs. It runs quietly in the background, flagging inconsistencies and ensuring that instruments are working properly. Not exactly headline material, right? But now imagine this: because of that software, a false negative was caught before a patient was mistakenly told they were cancer-free. That tiny flag in the system prevented a life-altering delay in treatment. Suddenly, what sounded routine is now a story about trust, accuracy, and accountability in moments that matter. The work may be invisible, but its impact isn’t. You don’t need to embellish. You just need to connect the dots between what you do and why it matters.

4. “It’s too complicated to explain.”

The Truth:
Yes, science is complex, and that’s a good thing. But complexity doesn’t mean your story has to be confusing. You’re not dumbing it down, you’re distilling it. Think of it like using a microscope: you don’t show your audience the entire slide, you zoom in on one meaningful field of view that tells the story.
Lead with the why - the problem you’re solving or the outcome you’re enabling-then reveal just enough of the how to build trust and curiosity. Ditch the acronyms and layered mechanisms in your first breath. Start with impact.
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Example:
Let’s say you’re a company using AI to optimize antibody discovery. The algorithm itself is complex, and the team gets lost in descriptors like “iterative active learning loops” and “sequence space mapping.”
Now imagine reframing it this way:

“Every day without an effective antibody means another patient with no treatment. Our platform learns from every failed experiment, so we get to the right therapeutic candidates in a fraction of the time.”

You’ve just made a machine learning platform about human urgency. You didn’t ignore the science, you made it serve the story. The truth is, every company has a story worth telling. Especially in life sciences, where the stakes are high and the breakthroughs are real.

Excuse #5:  “Only a small audience understands what we do.”

The Truth:
Niche audiences tend to be highly engaged, especially when you speak their language and reflect their challenges. But don’t stop there. A well-told story can ripple far beyond the technical crowd. Investors, collaborators, future hires, and even regulatory reviewers pay attention when the narrative is clear and compelling. Good storytelling doesn’t dilute your science, it amplifies your mission.

Example:
Suppose you're a synthetic biology startup engineering microbial consortia for soil remediation. It sounds esoteric, and sure, your core audience might be environmental scientists and industrial biotech specialists.
But when you explain it like this:

“We’re programming microbes to clean toxic soil so that abandoned industrial sites can become places where kids play again,”

You’ve suddenly opened the door to policymakers, grant funders, and impact investors. You didn’t lose your niche audience. And you expanded your reach.

Conclusion: Bring Back the Story!

We don’t need to abandon data. We just need to embed it in something human. Storytelling isn’t fluff. It’s not extra. It’s how we make meaning out of the work we do. It’s how we get others to care. To fund us. To join us. To believe in us. So, if you're sitting on a good story instead of making it technical and data driven – Stop!

Find the life in your life sciences story. Or risk having someone sum it all up with:

“A group of scientists just sit around, run assays, and talk.”