3 ms·
I really would love to see this work, but I have very very strong doubts. I hope you've done your market research, and aren't wasting time creating this website
by rorrr 15y ago
I really would love to see this work, but I have very very strong doubts. I hope you've done your market research, and aren't wasting time creating this website.
I've done scientific research, got published, so I saw this process first hand.
1) Grants are usually very small, only high end labs and a few science centers would do this (in my opinion).
2) Scientists are crazy about keeping their research private. There's a lot of competition and back stabbing going on in the scientific world.
3) Most scientists would find it very hard to rely on somebody they don't know. Experiments are extremely important, and often there's not much room for failure. Let's say you're a biologist who worked on a cell line for 3 years, and you finally have enough material to do an experiment. Would you ship it somewhere else to save some money?
4) Research projects that cannot be done locally are generally not approved. Meaning that the whole research project is financed and planned ahead of time. It's hard enough to get grant money, now imagine your proposed project has many more moving parts and points of failure.
- bbgm 15y agoIt will be very hard, given that the funding models don't necessarily align right now, but I think there is an opportunity. There's definitely an opportunity with small biotech, where there is need, but often no resources for specific project. FWIW in some areas, distributed research is becoming the norm just out of necessity.
- hirenj 15y agoI wholeheartedly agree on points 2 and 3 - In fact, I've known scientists that were loathe to send BLAST jobs out to external servers. Another point is that I've yet to see any core facilities that are running idle. Our core facility mass spec guys are running 24/7, and that's not even taking into account the time they lose to the instrument screwing up. In fact, it'll be hard to see some of the high end equipment running under heavier load – it's all just too fragile.
- riprock 15y agoI emailed my dad (biosci professor) for his opinion on this company, but from what I know of his work history and past collaborations, points 2 and 3 are likely road blocks to using this webapp. Trust is definitely a huge deal as I know he flies in specialized technicians he trusts over more "local" and likely "cheaper" technicians. Not saying the local technicians aren't trustworthy or aren't as skilled, but no matter the costs, trust founded on years of collaboration is irreplaceable. That said, I'm guessing this kind of service may be more appealing to fresh PhDs.
- brianbreslin 15y agoI am pretty sure one of the founders is an actual research scientist. She came to this idea via a personal need. the other points i have no response to. - disclosure i'm friends with a few of the founders.
- perlgeek 15y agoI think there are two types of "experiments". One of them is the classical scientific experiment, where you build an apparatus or somethings from dozens of components, and look at what results it produces. I can see how most of your concerns apply to that. The other one is supplemental standard measurements, which can be also very expensive. For example if you create a new metal alloy, you might need an AFM image of the grain boundaries. If you receive such an image, you can very easily assess its quality, making it easier to rely on the "results" of others. If you plan ahead, you can include a few thousand USD for AFM images in your grant application, much easier than getting a grant approved which includes buying your own AFM.