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"Build a holodeck", "Read/write cells for under $1000", "biological satellite that... deploys/builds itself", "build quantum gears"... This seems more like 25

"Build a holodeck", "Read/write cells for under $1000", "biological satellite that... deploys/builds itself", "build quantum gears"... This seems more like 25 Startup Ideas for 2042.

judegomila 15y ago
I added some fun ones in there as well...though OpenPCR have made really good headway on the cheap desktop bio hardware front.
- frisco 15y ago
  OpenPCR is totally different from "read/write cells" much less "read/write cells for under $1000". A truly useful "BioCAD" isn't an engineering problem yet: there's a very substantial amount of basic research required. Synthetic gene circuits evolve rapidly, for one: let's say you designed and "CAD-tested" your circuit, how will you keep it from mutating within a few days? Unsolved research problem. > Build a database for biology. Better than Entrez/NCBI? They have a ton of data. Yes, not particularly user-friendly in the way the web community might be used to, but it has all of the data and biologists know how to read it. What would you add? (Yes, there's a lot to add -- but it's not a matter of a prettier UI, and NCBI does have an API already that people find usable). > Reading DNA in vitro What does this mean? Sequencing DNA without extracting it from a cell? Why? Sequencing is largely a solved problem now. Costs are dropping faster than Moore's law, and there's literally a thousand vendors who will do it. Even synthesis is advancing so fast that people are beginning to talk about not doing subcloning anymore and just synthesizing the entire construct! (Note that just because we can synthesize kbp oligos now doesn't mean that they're biologically useful in much other than bacteria and yeast, though... pesky things like epigenetic modifications and nucleosomes/genomic DNA packing... among others.) Also, the extension of "writ[ing] DNA sequences into plasmids using the capacitance of the cell wall via [a] nano tube" seems a bit far from current technology. That said, I think these are important problems and I'd love love love to see more people working on them versus more web and iphone apps! This was not the list I expected to see, which is awesome. But the biology-related ideas don't come across as being communicated with much sophistication.
  - irollboozers 15y ago
    Yup. I have a feeling he just has a bunch of ideas but doesn't know how they'd actually be implemented. Though, I am using the new IDT geneblocks. I even got a discount on an order, so now ordering 500bp double stranded fragments is actually cheaper than assembling oligos. It's nuts.
  - judegomila 15y ago
    I would also love to see more startups in this area. It would be amazing to open biology to every engineer on the planet. I'm thinking of a arduino like revolution but for biology. Achieving read/write cells for under $1000 on the desktop would open up biology to an entire new set of people. I'm not a biologist, but I'm intrigued by what we can unlock in this field. OpenPCR is a good example of frugal engineering applied to the space. I hope to see more attempts at making this hardware cheaper and accessible. Regarding the spec on the Database. User friendliness would be a start, can you throw in what you would want to improve - I'm interested in your ideas? The company "ion torrent" caught my eye regarding the in vitro DNA sequencing. It disrupts Halcyon Molecular and could cut the cost down even quicker.
    - irollboozers 15y ago
      Why are you convinced you need to open biology up to engineers? Is that currently not the case? The fact is you really can't do much with a PCR machine. Sure, you can identify your friends boogers. But it only reduces one tiny aspect of overall cost. Add a centrifuge, a flow cytometer, a gel box, some incubators, and then maybe you have a functional 'garage' lab. But again, you don't achieve much by having immediate in vitro sequencing. Not sure what the point is. The real barrier then is literally funding and the capacity to do the research. And that's exactly what my startup is doing.
      - sharpshoot 15y ago
        what are you working on?
      - jayunit 15y ago
mahyarm 15y ago
Start writing those grant proposals!
gamechangr 15y ago
I was thinking the same thing!!! But the list is Great! (save the this one...okay maybe a couple are 2014)
wavephorm 15y ago
"build a holodeck" This is what I'll be applying to YC with this time around. Actually most of the technology to create a prototype holodeck already exists. Between kinect, VR galsses, and cheap hi-def cameras it can all be done in a rudamentary way that can be improved on as the underlying technologies improve.
- elviejo 15y ago
  Check out: http://www.virtusphere.com/ http://www.virtusphere.com/ "We see the VirtuSphere as version 1 of the Holodeck and the ultimate portal to the matrix."

"Build a holodeck", "Read/write cells for under $1000", "biological satellite that... deploys/builds itself", "build quantum gears"... This seems more like 25 Startup Ideas for 2042.

judegomila 15y ago

I added some fun ones in there as well...though OpenPCR have made really good headway on the cheap desktop bio hardware front.

frisco 15y ago
OpenPCR is totally different from "read/write cells" much less "read/write cells for under $1000". A truly useful "BioCAD" isn't an engineering problem yet: there's a very substantial amount of basic research required. Synthetic gene circuits evolve rapidly, for one: let's say you designed and "CAD-tested" your circuit, how will you keep it from mutating within a few days? Unsolved research problem. > Build a database for biology. Better than Entrez/NCBI? They have a ton of data. Yes, not particularly user-friendly in the way the web community might be used to, but it has all of the data and biologists know how to read it. What would you add? (Yes, there's a lot to add -- but it's not a matter of a prettier UI, and NCBI does have an API already that people find usable). > Reading DNA in vitro What does this mean? Sequencing DNA without extracting it from a cell? Why? Sequencing is largely a solved problem now. Costs are dropping faster than Moore's law, and there's literally a thousand vendors who will do it. Even synthesis is advancing so fast that people are beginning to talk about not doing subcloning anymore and just synthesizing the entire construct! (Note that just because we can synthesize kbp oligos now doesn't mean that they're biologically useful in much other than bacteria and yeast, though... pesky things like epigenetic modifications and nucleosomes/genomic DNA packing... among others.) Also, the extension of "writ[ing] DNA sequences into plasmids using the capacitance of the cell wall via [a] nano tube" seems a bit far from current technology. That said, I think these are important problems and I'd love love love to see more people working on them versus more web and iphone apps! This was not the list I expected to see, which is awesome. But the biology-related ideas don't come across as being communicated with much sophistication.
- irollboozers 15y ago
  Yup. I have a feeling he just has a bunch of ideas but doesn't know how they'd actually be implemented. Though, I am using the new IDT geneblocks. I even got a discount on an order, so now ordering 500bp double stranded fragments is actually cheaper than assembling oligos. It's nuts.
- judegomila 15y ago
  I would also love to see more startups in this area. It would be amazing to open biology to every engineer on the planet. I'm thinking of a arduino like revolution but for biology. Achieving read/write cells for under $1000 on the desktop would open up biology to an entire new set of people. I'm not a biologist, but I'm intrigued by what we can unlock in this field. OpenPCR is a good example of frugal engineering applied to the space. I hope to see more attempts at making this hardware cheaper and accessible. Regarding the spec on the Database. User friendliness would be a start, can you throw in what you would want to improve - I'm interested in your ideas? The company "ion torrent" caught my eye regarding the in vitro DNA sequencing. It disrupts Halcyon Molecular and could cut the cost down even quicker.
  - irollboozers 15y ago
    Why are you convinced you need to open biology up to engineers? Is that currently not the case? The fact is you really can't do much with a PCR machine. Sure, you can identify your friends boogers. But it only reduces one tiny aspect of overall cost. Add a centrifuge, a flow cytometer, a gel box, some incubators, and then maybe you have a functional 'garage' lab. But again, you don't achieve much by having immediate in vitro sequencing. Not sure what the point is. The real barrier then is literally funding and the capacity to do the research. And that's exactly what my startup is doing.
    - sharpshoot 15y ago
      what are you working on?
    - jayunit 15y ago

mahyarm 15y ago

Start writing those grant proposals!

gamechangr 15y ago

I was thinking the same thing!!! But the list is Great! (save the this one...okay maybe a couple are 2014)

wavephorm 15y ago

"build a holodeck" This is what I'll be applying to YC with this time around. Actually most of the technology to create a prototype holodeck already exists. Between kinect, VR galsses, and cheap hi-def cameras it can all be done in a rudamentary way that can be improved on as the underlying technologies improve.

elviejo 15y ago
Check out: http://www.virtusphere.com/ http://www.virtusphere.com/ "We see the VirtuSphere as version 1 of the Holodeck and the ultimate portal to the matrix."