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This essay uses too many analogies with the manufacturing of consumer electronic goods. I spent years using recombinant DNA to modify animals (nematodes and fru

This essay uses too many analogies with the manufacturing of consumer electronic goods. I spent years using recombinant DNA to modify animals (nematodes and fruitflies), and I think a lot of folks don't appreciate the level of QC needed to manufacture and grow stuff at any level of scale. Your fingertips and the air itself is teeming with microorganisms that themselves are crawling with RNAses. My wife works in semiconductor manufacturing and the difference cannot be more stark. I went to a science conference with her and damn near every chart was filled with straight lines that differed no more than nanometers. I'm now a software engineer (still working in biotech), and I can tell you there is a lazy level of comfort in being able to type code and get the same result every time

kwere 4y ago
QC?
- jjk166 4y ago
  Quality control
washadjeffmad 4y ago
Agreed that there are no real quality or VLSI engineering parallels with biologics. Spontaneous reversion of mutations, natural mutations, lateral gene transfer, and more are always barriers. Lab work is fun because it always leads to more questions, but it makes the precision of computing only feel like theory crafting. It's hard to scale in biotech, which does reduce some burden on efficiency. Processes that work at the bench and pilot scale may not work in larger reactors or processes, or only inconsistently. Custom designs for each strain or species would be ideal, but that isn't generally taken very far because it's easier to focus on costs and yields. Whatever can be done most cheaply or the fastest with what already exists is often what wins out. It's funny, I worked on media development and reactor design for nematode cultures over a decade ago, which I moved to from programming. After frustration with diminishing grants and research budgets, I transitioned to IT, and I'm considering a move to IS to support some projects I care about. The way HN stories often end with "and then I became a software developer and never looked back" makes me feel like I've had my career in reverse :)

kwere 4y ago

QC?

jjk166 4y ago
Quality control

washadjeffmad 4y ago

Agreed that there are no real quality or VLSI engineering parallels with biologics. Spontaneous reversion of mutations, natural mutations, lateral gene transfer, and more are always barriers. Lab work is fun because it always leads to more questions, but it makes the precision of computing only feel like theory crafting. It's hard to scale in biotech, which does reduce some burden on efficiency. Processes that work at the bench and pilot scale may not work in larger reactors or processes, or only inconsistently. Custom designs for each strain or species would be ideal, but that isn't generally taken very far because it's easier to focus on costs and yields. Whatever can be done most cheaply or the fastest with what already exists is often what wins out. It's funny, I worked on media development and reactor design for nematode cultures over a decade ago, which I moved to from programming. After frustration with diminishing grants and research budgets, I transitioned to IT, and I'm considering a move to IS to support some projects I care about. The way HN stories often end with "and then I became a software developer and never looked back" makes me feel like I've had my career in reverse :)