10 ms·

This is such mind-blowing success, it makes me contemplate switching fields. Is it reasonably feasible to switch from IT to Biotech/Medical Research in the mid

This is such mind-blowing success, it makes me contemplate switching fields. Is it reasonably feasible to switch from IT to Biotech/Medical Research in the mid thirties? I had a friend with Fukutin-related limb-girdle muscular dystrophy R13 and am wondering if CRISPR could be the solution for her.

redis_mlc 6y ago
Go for it. We'll probably still be looking for a vaccine for corona by the time you graduate!
ikeyany 6y ago
You don't even need to switch fields. There are plenty of biomedical companies (and what isn't a tech company these days?) and projects that could use some passionate technical people.
- person_of_color 6y ago
  What are the biomedical FAANGs?
  - DrAwdeOccarim 6y ago
    Regeneron, Genetech, Amgen, Vertex, Gilead, Biogen
    - person_of_color 6y ago
      Where is 10x Genomics in the scheme of things?
      - DrAwdeOccarim 6y ago
        They don't make drugs, so more of a pick and shovel play. More like ARM, Segate, WD, Micron?
    - perl4ever 6y ago
      I've heard of those, but it's interesting to me that you list those and not, say, Illumina.
      - DrAwdeOccarim 6y ago
        I mean, they are a pick and shovel play. They don't make drugs? Plus, sequencing is great but it's getting saturated. Plus, ideas like direct sequencing using nanopores and chemical modification of nucleic acid to make the nanopore signal stronger may disrupt.
        perl4ever 6y ago
        Reading a lot of 10-Ks, you get the impression that many if not most biotech companies want to appeal to investors who find "pick and shovel" companies appealing. Even companies that are basically drug companies often try to portray themselves as having a revolutionary "platform". I'm not saying your attitude is obviously wrong, but there must be a lot of people whose imagination is captured by making tools and the potential of that to change the world. The development of a tool like optogenetics, for instance, makes me feel like amazing things can be accomplished. It's leverage.
        DrAwdeOccarim 6y ago
        Yea sure, I love pick and shovel plays. I think they're the ones you make the easy money from like ThermoFisher, Becton Dickinson, EMD/Milipore, Sigma-Aldrich, etc. I was thinking more like FAANG companies that are huge, pay awesome, and make the final product, though I guess you could say advertising is a bit of a pass-through income generator. Maybe you and I have different definitions of 'platform' company? I define as a way to iterate to get new products, like Regeneron uses their humanized mice to crank-out mAbs, or Genetech/Amgen use recombinant molecular biology to make mAbs, or Vertex uses their in vitro ion channel conductance screening method to make new structure correctors for CFTR...
akkawwakka 6y ago
It’s worth knowing there are very few diseases that can be cured with singular gene edits. Many diseases involve multiple genes, cascades of gene expression, or complex physiological pathways. Oh, and not to mention epigenetics and environmental factors.
- dougmwne 6y ago
  The strategy they used speaks exactly to your point. The diseases were not "cured" in the sense that these people were brought back to a generic baseline. That very well may have required a complex series of edits that are well beyond what is currently possible. Instead, they focused on a clever workaround that was simpler to implement, reactivating fetal hemoglobin. That's how they were able to cure two different diseases with the same gene edit. So you have a much larger pool of genetic and non-genetic diseases that can be cured now. For example if someone had low lung function due to lung scarring, this might be an interesting treatment to look at.
- loeg 6y ago
  My family has one of the well-known single-site cancer-causing mutations; we know what the specific site is, even. It would be immense to "fix" (I am not a geneticist) that single site. Even just for my kids.
  - sszz 6y ago
    Why would you prefer the risks of editing versus the risks of preimplantation screening? Editing would be strictly riskier unless there’s really no alternative (unlikely but possible)
    - loeg 6y ago
      Preimplantation screening isn't an option for me or any other of my family members who are long past implantation. I'm not saying I'd hop on stage 1 clinical trials of a potential editing cure, and we'd have to see what the data on risk looked like to compare it with the risk from cancer without editing.
- 6y ago
theelous3 6y ago
Anecdotal, but my cousin did exactly this. I will note, he is probably the most exceptional person I known of, beyond those classic geniuses everyone knows.
- Roritharr 6y ago
  Interesting, can you give a bit more details what exactly his path was?
  - theelous3 6y ago
    comp sci in prestigious european uni. Moved to us in early 2000s. Big nationwide datacenter stuff. Decided to become doctor. Did doctory stuff and floated around medical for a while before switching to psyc. Currently forensic psych for infamous US prison. Found that rather than patient hop in regular psyc practice, or drug up people in asylums, with trial cases spanning years you can really deep dive a person and do good work.
    - Roritharr 6y ago
      Did he support a family during his transition or was he still single? Was money a problem in general along the way?
      - theelous3 6y ago
        Married no kids, partner also successful. Given his talents and character I don't believe money was an issue.
      - crimsonalucard1 6y ago
        I think you need to pause before considering this route. Are you that exceptional? This level of intelligence is incredibly rare and unless you're 100% sure you're capable of this, I wouldn't do it.
        6y ago
quotz 6y ago
Anyone knows how to get into the field?
- xiphias2 6y ago
  As an other commenter wrote, if you know some software engineering, you are already valuable to all biotech companies, so it's probably better to go there as an engineer first and pick up the biology on the side than to go back to school and waste 5 years of your life without providing real value.
  - mc32 6y ago
    Bioinformatics is probably a good option too.

redis_mlc 6y ago

Go for it. We'll probably still be looking for a vaccine for corona by the time you graduate!

ikeyany 6y ago

You don't even need to switch fields. There are plenty of biomedical companies (and what isn't a tech company these days?) and projects that could use some passionate technical people.

person_of_color 6y ago
What are the biomedical FAANGs?
- DrAwdeOccarim 6y ago
  Regeneron, Genetech, Amgen, Vertex, Gilead, Biogen
  - person_of_color 6y ago
    Where is 10x Genomics in the scheme of things?
    - DrAwdeOccarim 6y ago
      They don't make drugs, so more of a pick and shovel play. More like ARM, Segate, WD, Micron?
  - perl4ever 6y ago
    I've heard of those, but it's interesting to me that you list those and not, say, Illumina.
    - DrAwdeOccarim 6y ago
      I mean, they are a pick and shovel play. They don't make drugs? Plus, sequencing is great but it's getting saturated. Plus, ideas like direct sequencing using nanopores and chemical modification of nucleic acid to make the nanopore signal stronger may disrupt.
      - perl4ever 6y ago
        Reading a lot of 10-Ks, you get the impression that many if not most biotech companies want to appeal to investors who find "pick and shovel" companies appealing. Even companies that are basically drug companies often try to portray themselves as having a revolutionary "platform". I'm not saying your attitude is obviously wrong, but there must be a lot of people whose imagination is captured by making tools and the potential of that to change the world. The development of a tool like optogenetics, for instance, makes me feel like amazing things can be accomplished. It's leverage.
        DrAwdeOccarim 6y ago
        Yea sure, I love pick and shovel plays. I think they're the ones you make the easy money from like ThermoFisher, Becton Dickinson, EMD/Milipore, Sigma-Aldrich, etc. I was thinking more like FAANG companies that are huge, pay awesome, and make the final product, though I guess you could say advertising is a bit of a pass-through income generator. Maybe you and I have different definitions of 'platform' company? I define as a way to iterate to get new products, like Regeneron uses their humanized mice to crank-out mAbs, or Genetech/Amgen use recombinant molecular biology to make mAbs, or Vertex uses their in vitro ion channel conductance screening method to make new structure correctors for CFTR...

akkawwakka 6y ago

It’s worth knowing there are very few diseases that can be cured with singular gene edits. Many diseases involve multiple genes, cascades of gene expression, or complex physiological pathways. Oh, and not to mention epigenetics and environmental factors.

dougmwne 6y ago
The strategy they used speaks exactly to your point. The diseases were not "cured" in the sense that these people were brought back to a generic baseline. That very well may have required a complex series of edits that are well beyond what is currently possible. Instead, they focused on a clever workaround that was simpler to implement, reactivating fetal hemoglobin. That's how they were able to cure two different diseases with the same gene edit. So you have a much larger pool of genetic and non-genetic diseases that can be cured now. For example if someone had low lung function due to lung scarring, this might be an interesting treatment to look at.
loeg 6y ago
My family has one of the well-known single-site cancer-causing mutations; we know what the specific site is, even. It would be immense to "fix" (I am not a geneticist) that single site. Even just for my kids.
- sszz 6y ago
  Why would you prefer the risks of editing versus the risks of preimplantation screening? Editing would be strictly riskier unless there’s really no alternative (unlikely but possible)
  - loeg 6y ago
    Preimplantation screening isn't an option for me or any other of my family members who are long past implantation. I'm not saying I'd hop on stage 1 clinical trials of a potential editing cure, and we'd have to see what the data on risk looked like to compare it with the risk from cancer without editing.
6y ago

theelous3 6y ago

Anecdotal, but my cousin did exactly this. I will note, he is probably the most exceptional person I known of, beyond those classic geniuses everyone knows.

Roritharr 6y ago
Interesting, can you give a bit more details what exactly his path was?
- theelous3 6y ago
  comp sci in prestigious european uni. Moved to us in early 2000s. Big nationwide datacenter stuff. Decided to become doctor. Did doctory stuff and floated around medical for a while before switching to psyc. Currently forensic psych for infamous US prison. Found that rather than patient hop in regular psyc practice, or drug up people in asylums, with trial cases spanning years you can really deep dive a person and do good work.
  - Roritharr 6y ago
    Did he support a family during his transition or was he still single? Was money a problem in general along the way?
    - theelous3 6y ago
      Married no kids, partner also successful. Given his talents and character I don't believe money was an issue.
    - crimsonalucard1 6y ago
      I think you need to pause before considering this route. Are you that exceptional? This level of intelligence is incredibly rare and unless you're 100% sure you're capable of this, I wouldn't do it.
      - 6y ago

quotz 6y ago

Anyone knows how to get into the field?

xiphias2 6y ago
As an other commenter wrote, if you know some software engineering, you are already valuable to all biotech companies, so it's probably better to go there as an engineer first and pick up the biology on the side than to go back to school and waste 5 years of your life without providing real value.
- mc32 6y ago
  Bioinformatics is probably a good option too.