Author: karlschmieder

Yeast Engineering and Apple Clinics

This week I’ve been thinking a lot about this MIT Technology Review article on writing the yeast genome. The article profiles NYU’s Jef Boeke, one of the founders and leaders of Genome Project write (GP-write). Writing a genome, which is still expensive, will drive advances across many fields (I’ve written about this project in the […]

Organism Design. Minecraft Chemistry.

Organism or microbe design is an emerging industry. It’s analogous to the semi-conductor industry. Companies design and manufacture the semi-conductors found in computers, phones, cars, and televisions. Today, end-users rarely make semi-conductors themselves. They hire the expertise and apply what is manufactured to create a product. Organism design companies are reprograming yeast and bacteria to produce […]

I Built a 22,000 Contact Network on LinkedIn. Here’s Why You Don’t Need To. Part 1

TL;DR I grew my LinkedIn network to 22K contacts. You *might* grow yours to advance your career. “You want to have as large a LinkedIn network as possible,” he said. At the time, I didn’t understand. What was this investor was telling me? I’d been on the professional social network for a few years. I’d […]

The Sprawl Trilogy

Netflix just started airing Altered Carbon. It’s a rad take Richard K. Morgan’s 2002 cyberpunk novel. One of my favorite genres, cyberpunk typically explores how the street repurposes tech, life in cyberspace and off-planet. Last fall, I reread William Gibson’s Sprawl Trilogy – Neuromancer, Count Zero, and Mona Lisa Overdrive. (Neuromancer, BTW, is credited with […]

The Story Grid. Pedro Paramo.

I’m a story nerd. I enjoy re-reading books, re-watching movies. I like figuring out how the authors or film makers put the story together. What hints did they place at the beginning of the story, and resolve at the end? I’ve read plenty of books on writing screenplays, plotting, and character development. Last year, I […]

Product Market Fit

To paraphrase, Lean Startup author Eric Reis, “We can build any product. The question is: Will anyone buy it?” True Story: She is developing a new chip set. It’s revolutionary in its design and potential applications. When I ask about customers, she answers, “We’re building a platform, like the app store.” When I ask about […]

What I’m Reading

Happy New Year! Over the holidays, I unsubscribed from dozens of newsletters. I was very critical in thinking through whether a newsletter belonged in my email box. Was it helping me stay informed? Was it inspiring? Or, was it wasting (virtual) space? Here are a few of the newsletters I subscribe to stay up to date on biotech, […]

2017: A Year Wraps and Good Riddance

Good Riddance 2017 It was a good year, but not without its challenges. The TL;DR is: mL grew more than 10 percent but is still down from its 2015 high. I co-authored and published What’s Your Bio Strategy? I moderated a panel at SynBioBeta SF17 and keynoted at Biofabricate 4 and enjoyed it. I now […]