The hottest Biotechnology Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
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Bill Gates Launches Global Tracking Tattoos

2nd Smartest Guy in the World • 3577 implied HN points • 24 Jan 24
🏥 Health Politics Public Health Medical Misinformation Global Health Biotechnology
  1. Bill Gates is involved in projects like global tracking tattoos and genetically modified mosquitoes.
  2. There are concerns raised about Bill Gates funding schemes that involve cutting down forests and deploying GMO Frankenmosquitos.
  3. There is skepticism and caution advised regarding Bill Gates' projects to control and monitor the population.

Karuna Therapeutics, a drug repurposing effort, sold for about $14 billion. This is their story.

Trevor Klee’s Newsletter • 1119 implied HN points • 05 Feb 24
🔬 Science Biotechnology Drug Development Pharmaceuticals Clinical Trials Innovation
  1. Karuna Therapeutics achieved a $14 billion sale through drug repurposing.
  2. Drug repurposing can be a highly lucrative business without requiring excessive brilliance or luck.
  3. VCs often prioritize hype and platform-based drug development over drug repurposing success stories.

Drug the Undruggable: Learn how Elsie Biotechnologies is advancing oligonucleotide therapeutics

LatchBio • 268 implied HN points • 07 Mar 24
🔬 Science Biotechnology Drug Discovery Webinar
  1. Elsie Biotechnologies uses computational design tools and high-throughput experimental approaches to develop drugs.
  2. Partnerships with large pharmaceutical companies like GSK can significantly impact the progress of smaller biotech companies.
  3. Oligonucleotide therapies represent the future of drug development, promising safer and more effective treatments.
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Stories We’d Like to Publish

Asimov Press • 174 implied HN points • 03 Mar 24
🔬 Science Biotechnology Genetics Microbiology Predictive Models Animal Welfare
  1. Asimov Press is publicly sharing ideas for essays they'd like to publish and inviting writers to contribute by emailing them at [email protected].
  2. Topics in biotechnology range from synthetic blood development to artificial wombs and synthetic nitrogen fixation, showcasing the broad spectrum of innovative research being undertaken.
  3. Biotechnology advancements aim to address a variety of issues, such as animal welfare, predictive growth models for microbes, and challenges in protein structure prediction, highlighting the diverse applications and potential impact of biotechnological research.

Weekly Dose of Optimism #85

Not Boring by Packy McCormick • 106 implied HN points • 15 Mar 24
🕹 Technology Space Exploration Artificial Intelligence Renewable Energy Blockchain Biotechnology
  1. SpaceX successfully launched Starship into orbit, showcasing the power of moonshots to make people feel part of something bigger and optimistic about the future.
  2. Cognition AI, built by gold-medalist coders, can code based on requests, marking a significant advancement in AI technology.
  3. Extropic AI's thermodynamic chips could revolutionize computing by leveraging nature's randomness for energy efficiency, potentially accelerating the next era of computing.

What If We Could Change The Colour Of *Everything*?

Everything Is Amazing • 470 implied HN points • 24 Mar 23
🔬 Science Color Theory Materials science Biotechnology Fashion
  1. The way chameleons change color can inspire future color-changing technology for surfaces and fabrics.
  2. Current advancements in color-changing materials like Fabrican and PhotoChromeleon show promise for future fashion and architectural applications.
  3. The deep meanings and social implications of colors in fashion and pigmentation mean that changing color technology may have complex impacts on society.

4 Reads Per Cluster! Simultaneously Paired End-Sequencing!

ASeq Newsletter • 36 implied HN points • 31 Jan 24
🔬 Science Genetics Bioinformatics Sequencing Biotechnology
  1. Illumina has a method to potentially double their instruments' throughput, but it may come with a slight decrease in accuracy.
  2. By simultaneously reading both the forward and reverse strands, Illumina can achieve four reads per cluster, doubling the throughput.
  3. Implementing the simultaneous paired-end sequencing approach may be challenging without sacrificing accuracy, but it opens up opportunities for increased throughput in the future.

Rationalizing The Illumina Instrument Lineup

ASeq Newsletter • 51 implied HN points • 09 Jan 24
🕹 Technology Biotechnology Instruments
  1. Illumina has a variety of sequencing instruments in their lineup, which includes different models and variations.
  2. The cost of production for these instruments varies based on the technology and components used.
  3. Rationalizing the Illumina instrument lineup could involve withdrawing some current models and introducing new, more cost-effective options.

What The H*ll Is PPMSeq?

ASeq Newsletter • 21 implied HN points • 17 Feb 24
🔬 Science Biotechnology Genomics Sequencing Bioinformatics
  1. PPMSeq is a duplex sequencing technique that ensures high accuracy reads by reading both forward and reverse strands of a double-stranded sequence.
  2. Ultima's PPMSeq works by amplifying both strands on the same bead and utilizing a tag to identify their presence, with errors causing radical dephasing which is taken care of by downstream software.
  3. Approaches to implementing PPMSeq on Ultima's platform involve reading both strands in both directions simultaneously or keeping the product on beads in the same orientation, each with its own challenges and considerations.

Immune engineering

The Century of Biology • 390 implied HN points • 19 Feb 23
🔬 Science Genetic Engineering Cancer Treatment Biotechnology
  1. The immune system is a major frontier for the future of biotechnology and medicine.
  2. Engineered T cells, like CAR-T therapy, show promise in treating diseases like cancer by programming immune cells.
  3. Immune engineering, especially in combination with the 4-S stack, holds great potential for designing new therapies and advancing genetic engineering technology.

GPCRs in kidney disease

Axial • 7 implied HN points • 13 Mar 24
🔬 Science Biotechnology Genetics Healthcare Research
  1. Kidney disease, particularly autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (PKD), has been underinvested compared to other conditions like oncology and diabetes.
  2. The development of drugs targeting GPCRs PC-1 and PC-2 in PKD could significantly improve the quality of life for patients by reducing cyst size.
  3. Business models in drug development are shifting towards rare disease candidates like PC-1/2, emphasizing treatments that exceed the current standard of care.

Ultima Unpatterned Flowcells

ASeq Newsletter • 14 implied HN points • 14 Feb 24
🔬 Science Biotechnology Genomics Technology Research Innovation
  1. Ultima has transitioned to using unpatterned flowcells, which are cheaper and possibly work well with minor drawbacks.
  2. Ultima's manufacturing using unpatterned flowcells involves surface treatment and spin coating to attach and shrink beads for better identification and access.
  3. The occupancy and loading efficiency of Ultima's unpatterned flowcells suggest a potential capacity for 8 billion reads per run, showing advancements since their 2022 preprints.

Making Money From Lignin

The Polymerist • 215 implied HN points • 25 Apr 23
🔬 Science Chemistry Biotechnology Materials Enzymes
  1. Lignin can be a valuable source of aromatic structures for creating synthetic polymers and other materials.
  2. MetGen's enzyme-based technology allows for efficient depolymerization and refining of lignin in alkaline conditions.
  3. MetGen's advancements in lignin processing could make it a viable alternative to petroleum-based feedstocks for creating chemicals and materials.

Unlocking Precision Fermentation Via Protein Engineering

Splitting Infinity • 39 implied HN points • 30 Oct 23
🔬 Science Biochemistry Biotechnology Genetics Synthetic Biology
  1. Yeast, especially in precision fermentation, can be genetically modified to produce a wide range of chemicals, biologics, and medicines by augmenting their genes.
  2. The main challenge in precision fermentation is reducing costs, particularly in the purification process where proteins are separated from complex solutions.
  3. Novel techniques like self-cleaving tags and self-aggregating proteins offer promising solutions for purifying proteins in a cost-effective and efficient manner, potentially eliminating the need for expensive purification methods like column chromatography.

Erika Update #5: DNA detective

Erika’s Newsletter • 137 implied HN points • 18 Apr 23
🔬 Science Biology Genetics Research Engineering Biotechnology
  1. It's important to keep good track of custom DNA programs in biology for engineering purposes.
  2. Current DNA management lacks clear nomenclature and annotation, making it challenging to work with DNA sequences.
  3. Challenges in DNA management highlight the complexity of biological functions and the importance of handling sequences carefully and thoughtfully.

MoonLake Immunotherapeutics

Axial • 7 implied HN points • 17 Feb 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Biotechnology Clinical Trials Drug Development
  1. MoonLake Immunotherapeutics is developing a tri-specific nanobody therapy called Sonelokimab (SLK) that has shown significant efficacy in treating inflammatory diseases like HS, PsA, and PsO.
  2. SLK offers unique benefits like blocking all IL-17 pro-inflammatory dimers, enabling tissue penetration, and maintaining high response rates in patients with moderate-to-severe conditions.
  3. MoonLake's SLK has the potential to become a best-in-class IL-17 inhibitor in a multibillion-dollar market, with its innovative structure, clinical success, and competitive advantages over existing treatments.

Phage-assisted evolution and protein engineering yield compact, efficient prime editors

Axial • 37 implied HN points • 20 Oct 23
🔬 Science Biotechnology Genetics Research Evolution Engineering
  1. New optimized prime editors called PE6 variants improve editing outcomes in mammalian cells
  2. Phage-assisted continuous evolution enhances the efficiency of compact reverse transcriptases
  3. Combining evolved Cas9 domains with engineered RTs creates efficient prime editors for installing DNA sequences in vivo

Letter to Mother Nature: Amendments to the Human Constitution

Extropic Thoughts • 78 implied HN points • 12 Jul 23
🔬 Science Transhumanism Biotechnology Evolution Genetics
  1. The essay discusses amending the human constitution to overcome limitations like aging and death.
  2. It proposes expanding human perceptual abilities and enhancing intelligence through biotechnology and neural improvements.
  3. The amendments aim to move humanity towards a posthuman condition, integrating technology into individuals for unprecedented innovation.

Codon Digest: GPT-4 Controls a Robot

Asimov Press • 90 implied HN points • 16 Apr 23
🔬 Science Biotechnology Genetic Engineering Bioinformatics Microbiology Biology
  1. GPT-4 controlled a lab robot to conduct chemical reactions, showcasing the potential of using natural language to automate experiments.
  2. Skin microbes were engineered to activate the immune system to fight tumors when applied to the skin, offering a novel cancer treatment approach.
  3. Tobacco plants were genetically modified to produce moth sex pheromones, providing a natural way to repel male moths from crops and protect them.

The Cloud for Biology

LatchBio • 39 implied HN points • 29 Aug 23
🔬 Science Biology Data Management Cloud Computing Biotechnology Research
  1. Storing and transferring large sequencing files in biology can be challenging due to the lack of user-friendly storage solutions like AWS S3.
  2. Integrating and tracking sample metadata in biology is vital but often hindered by unintuitive systems and lack of system integrations.
  3. Setting up data pipelines and computational workflows for biology data analysis is labor-intensive, requiring user-friendly interfaces and tools.

Bringing Up An Old EBay MiSeq

ASeq Newsletter • 14 implied HN points • 06 Dec 23
🔬 Science Biotechnology
  1. Bought an old MiSeq on eBay, faced issues like getting reagents from Illumina and shipping to Japan but managed to resolve them
  2. Had to reset the password for the MiSeq, managed it by using a Linux system to reset and configure passwords
  3. Prepped PhiX control, ran a sequencing run with over-clustered results, but was able to get 20+ bases aligned to PhiX

🌊 200% increase in blue economy investments

paxtier • 1 implied HN point • 18 Mar 24
🔬 Science Investments Aquaculture Biotechnology
  1. There has been a 200% increase in investments in the blue economy between 2018 and 2022, signifying a growing interest and momentum.
  2. Challenges in the sector include a massive global unmet financing gap, concentration of investments at market launch phase, and investor hesitancy.
  3. Recent developments highlight collaborations in seaweed cultivation, funding raises for startups like KAS, and advancements in sustainable aquafeeds.

🌿 Algae domestication program wins Seaweed Ideathon

paxtier • 2 implied HN points • 25 Feb 24
🔬 Science Aquaculture Biotechnology Sustainability
  1. An algae domestication program won a Seaweed Ideathon, focusing on sustainable agriculture practices and biostimulant production.
  2. Investors are showing interest in aquaculture technology, with significant funding rounds announced for seaweed-derived products and sustainability initiatives.
  3. Job opportunities in the seaweed and microalgae industry are on the rise, with companies like PhycoWorks and GreenWave actively recruiting for various positions.