About

Easily Digested Biotechnology

This blog is not written to be understood only by those who already have their Ph.D. in the metagenomics of the drosophila GI tract.  Everything will be explained and described in enough detail so that no one feels too lost. 

My purpose in maintaining this blog is to introduce the vibrant world of biotechnology to an audience who perhaps only thought of biology as categorizing plants and animals and storing them in dusty jars of formaldehyde. Maybe you read "On the Origin of Species" and the only thing you got out of it was that Darwin had a decent beard. I'm sorry if this has been your only exposure. Maybe you're aware of the coolness factor of "bio"-anything and simply want to know why it is that anything bio makes your spine tingle. Maybe you're at a crossroads, needing to choose a major. To all of you, I give an air-five wherever you're reading this! We (all of us at BioBeans) welcome you to the field. After a few blog entries (hopefully already) your mind will be blown by the bio-awesomeness of biotech.

We will do the introducing by first approaching the basic science in a clear and simple way. Along the way we'll tell the tales of great bioscientists, and keep you up on current biotech news.

  Bio-

The prefix "bio" makes any word, on average, five-times cooler. Take for example the word "security". What first comes to mind? A portly fellow in a khaki uniform carrying a nightstick? Thought so. Now add "bio" to the beginning, which makes a new word "biosecurity". What do you think of now? Good-looking, intelligent scientists in hazmat suites, keeping the world safe from bioterrorists? Now you see my point. In my opinion, this example shows an increase of eight or nine fold in coolness level once "bio" was added. The change isn't always the positive. For example, take the word "terrorism". Added "bio" does not make this word any cooler - only scarier. Thus, the median coolness increase is five-times. But really, try it out on any word: "biotechnology", "bioenergy", "bioremediation", "biospeculation", "bioawesome", "biomatt" (even my name is cooler this way). This principle changed my life, as it may change yours. 

Choosing My Major

Several years ago I (Matt) was in the position of having to choose my undergraduate major. I was racking my brains, trying to decide what I liked to do, and what I was good at. The best answers I could summon were:

1.  I like cool stuff and science is cool
2.  I did some computer programming when I was fourteen so I might be good at that. 

With these two specific criteria, I filtered the schools catalog. English literature? Nah... Dance? I don't look too good in tight pants ... Computer Science? Maybe, but I don't speak binary ... Information Technology? Boring (no offense to the IT guys out there) ... Bioinformatics? Bioinfla-what?

Informatics, dealing with information. Computer stuff. Okay, the catalogue has some programming classes, which is a good sign. But what is "bio" doing in front of informatics? Bio equals life. Life information? Life information technology. Life computation? No matter how I parsed it, it all sounded intriguing, if a little vague. However, the coolness level of the word informatics had been raised high enough, and the deadline to pick a major was short enough, that I signed up, figuring I could change majors later if this one turned out to be a dud. 

I never changed my major.

The New High-Tech Biology

Bioinformatics is at the heart of the current biotechnology revolution. Bioinformaticians write software to solve puzzles such as piecing together the three-plus-billion base pair sequence of the human genome using supercomputers. Bioinformaticians write software to design new drugs by reconstructing 3D protein structures and finding molecules that fit those structures like a key into a lock. You may have noticed that the key phrase here is "Bioinformaticians write software". Software that solves complex problems in biology and medicine. I (Matt) didn't have a clue what bioinformaticians did when I chose my major. I was just lucky to be influenced by the coolness factor of "bio". I only discovered later how truly mind-boggling the field of biology has become. The burgeoning field isn't called biotechnologyfor nothing. New computational techniques, new math, new software, new imaging, new chemistry, new, new new new new! Biotechnology is one of the fastest growing sectors in the United States, and the current boom is oft compared to the IT boom of the second half of the 20th century. For good reason, billions of dollars are flowing into this sector, as are the intellectual powers of the nations. The payoff could be huge: better health by curing cancer and providing personalized medicine, solving world hunger and nutrition problems, clean energy, sustainable manufacturing, self-sustaining space exploration, and the list goes on.  

Contributors

Matt - A graduate student in the field of Biomedical Engineering. Primarily responsible for any bad jokes (puns mostly) on this blog, and a huge fan of synthetic biology. Matt and Chet were teammates on the iGEM team as undergraduates.

Chet - A graduate student in the field of Biotechnology, with a keen interest in business. Chet has an insatiable interest in genetically-modified foods.