Veterans of the biotech business sometimes talk about surviving various “winters” for their industry — periods when funding drops and companies cut jobs or shut down entirely.

They’re living through a bitterly cold stretch now, with recent layoffs at companies such as Takeda Pharmaceuticals , BioNTech, and Arena BioWorks, all of which have Massachusetts sites.

But there are some sudden sprouts of hope, with $1 billion in new funding announced last week by just two Boston-area startups, Kaleira Therapeutics in Waltham and Lila Sciences in Cambridge.

I also spoke to a first-time founder, Jean Pham, who is in the process of closing a smaller funding round for her Charlestown-based startup, Cellens.

Here’s what they’re working on.

A pill for managing obesity, developed and tested in

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