4 ms·

I realize it may have been an offhand answer, but what do you have in mind? Go get a graduate level understanding of biochemistry? Start working with genomic da

I realize it may have been an offhand answer, but what do you have in mind? Go get a graduate level understanding of biochemistry? Start working with genomic data? Etc.

sansnomme 7y ago
(Assuming a CS background) To do anything useful/fun/interesting in bio you should have a strong understanding of the Central Dogma, once you understand that you can move on to the rest. Many here recommend building gene analytics and other similar software/SaaS. I don't recommend it because you learn absolutely nothing from those low hanging fruits. Genetics and its relation to CS, at a sufficiently low level, is mostly string manipulation and search. There is a market if you are willing to build and do sales but it's hardly exciting. Better to get some actual wet lab experience and understanding, than become yet another "data science" biotech startup. We have had enough of those in healthcare already, tons of so-called "health tech" companies that were merely performing analytics on wearables. Profitable? Maybe. Exciting and innovative? No. Some reading material: Synthetic biology: A Primer An introduction to systems biology (get the 2020 edition) O'Reilly: Biobuilder Molecular biology of the Gene Campbell's Biology YouTube Channels: The Thought Emporium Josiah Zayner Khan Academy Biology Biology Professor Shomus Biology (The first two deal exclusively with bioengineering)
- madhadron 7y ago
  > Molecular biology of the Gene I really, really wish this book would stop being recommended. It doesn't teach any biology, just a lot of random facts disconnected from reality about a fictional average eukaryotic cell. Nowhere in it do you build an intuition about working with biological systems.
  - sansnomme 7y ago
    Sorry I meant Molecular Biology of the Cell. I think it's meant as a reference more than anything else. Bio is like ML in that it moves very quickly, so there is the need for constantly updated evergreen texts.
    - madhadron 7y ago
      Whoops, I thought you meant MBoC as well. I also wish everyone would stop recommending that one, too. I don't think it's even a good reference. I can safely say that I never got any useful information out if it during the course of my graduate work in biology.
carapace 7y ago
What Bodies Think About: Bioelectric Computation Outside the Nervous System (youtube.com) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18736698 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18736698 The Information Revolution has only just begun. ;-D
PascLeRasc 7y ago
Here's one of my favorite intros to cell biology: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~wcohen/GuideToBiology-sampleChapter-release1.4.pdf http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~wcohen/GuideToBiology-sampleChapter-r... There's also an older HN discussion about it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10961440 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10961440

I realize it may have been an offhand answer, but what do you have in mind? Go get a graduate level understanding of biochemistry? Start working with genomic data? Etc.

sansnomme 7y ago

(Assuming a CS background) To do anything useful/fun/interesting in bio you should have a strong understanding of the Central Dogma, once you understand that you can move on to the rest. Many here recommend building gene analytics and other similar software/SaaS. I don't recommend it because you learn absolutely nothing from those low hanging fruits. Genetics and its relation to CS, at a sufficiently low level, is mostly string manipulation and search. There is a market if you are willing to build and do sales but it's hardly exciting. Better to get some actual wet lab experience and understanding, than become yet another "data science" biotech startup. We have had enough of those in healthcare already, tons of so-called "health tech" companies that were merely performing analytics on wearables. Profitable? Maybe. Exciting and innovative? No. Some reading material: Synthetic biology: A Primer An introduction to systems biology (get the 2020 edition) O'Reilly: Biobuilder Molecular biology of the Gene Campbell's Biology YouTube Channels: The Thought Emporium Josiah Zayner Khan Academy Biology Biology Professor Shomus Biology (The first two deal exclusively with bioengineering)

madhadron 7y ago
> Molecular biology of the Gene I really, really wish this book would stop being recommended. It doesn't teach any biology, just a lot of random facts disconnected from reality about a fictional average eukaryotic cell. Nowhere in it do you build an intuition about working with biological systems.
- sansnomme 7y ago
  Sorry I meant Molecular Biology of the Cell. I think it's meant as a reference more than anything else. Bio is like ML in that it moves very quickly, so there is the need for constantly updated evergreen texts.
  - madhadron 7y ago
    Whoops, I thought you meant MBoC as well. I also wish everyone would stop recommending that one, too. I don't think it's even a good reference. I can safely say that I never got any useful information out if it during the course of my graduate work in biology.

carapace 7y ago

What Bodies Think About: Bioelectric Computation Outside the Nervous System (youtube.com) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18736698 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18736698 The Information Revolution has only just begun. ;-D

PascLeRasc 7y ago

Here's one of my favorite intros to cell biology: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~wcohen/GuideToBiology-sampleChapter-release1.4.pdf http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~wcohen/GuideToBiology-sampleChapter-r... There's also an older HN discussion about it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10961440 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10961440