Live on Fox today…. a fun day of frolic in HMB.

One tidbit from our Brainstorm panel with George Church, Drew Endy and Rodney Brooks: Personal genome sequences are about to drop to $100K, and some providers are gearing up for $30K. That’s down from about $70MM for the first and $1MM for the second. Gene sequencing and synthesis is advancing at a pace that dramatically outstrips Moore’s Law.

And we are just beginning to understand how much horizontal gene transfer has occurred between different organisms… and within them (e.g., mothers contain a composite of genetic material from all of their children).

But we did not have time to get into all that on TV. =)

17 responses to “FORTUNE Brainstorm”

  1. Nice!! Half Noon Bay and a good spot on national television!! Congrats!

  2. *grin*

    u.da.man (We already knew this, but… isn’t it awesome to be reminded about it from time to time 😉

    How-ever awkward this may sound to somebody else, it’s what spins in my mind: Everytime I you receive these mentions or awards or recognitions to your career (the path), your ideas (the talent) and your effective contribution (the sweat), I feel so proud of you!!

    Way to go, J!

  3. Very cool. And congrats.

  4. This is what I’m always preaching to family & friends, but it’s sometimes a hard sell. We still have a way to go before mainstream interest/support catches up. Thanks for being a public voice for this!

  5. Here you did it again !!! "Give me a A T G C C ….." =)

    What came out from the talk on Synthetic Biology ?

  6. Really puts a new spin on that ages old question, "If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?"

  7. hahaha! you really like this!! 🙂
    all the best!

  8. G* yes, always,
    bravo J*

    The ad beside your video made me smile …more half moon frolickers 😉

  9. I am a little disappointed you don’t sound as nerdy as expected!! We had a great time at Dorkfest at Tesla a few weekends back…those guys were great hosts and I’m looking forward to seeing more on the road soon…

  10. Ohhh !!!!! You are the best !!!!! You are in the TV !!!!!
    😉 😉 😉


    Seen on your photo stream. (?)

  11. Drew Endy recently spoke to the Long Now Foundation… fascinating:

    "I want to develop tools that make biology easy to engineer," Drew Endy began. The first purpose is better understanding of fundamental biological mechanisms through "learning by building." The toolkit of Synthetic Biology starts with DNA construction and ascends through DNA parts, to devices, to standardized systems. An organism’s DNA code, and therefore the organism, can be digitally uploaded, stored, distributed, and downloaded. Life forms are programmable.

    So far 3,500 standard "BioBrick" parts have been developed for free distribution, and the number is growing geometrically. The number of amateur and student bioengineers also is growing geometicallly.

    "There are 20,000 edible plant species," Endy noted. "At present we eat only 30." Synthetic biology can help diversify agriculture. Or how about engineering a gourd that can grow into a living house?

    Endy concluded with five questions… Should teenagers practice genetic engineering? (Yes.) Should military weapons involve biotechnology? (No.) Should BioBrick parts be patented or freely shared? (Free.) Will biohackers be good or bad? (Good, if we help.) Should genetic engineers sign their work and publish it? (Yes.)"

  12. Thanks for the update. Waiting to get the pod cast on line and will be all crazyhappy to listen to it, during a nice walk in the forest =)

    At the same time. Here is something you probably heard about.
    If not Enjoyed (but how could you not have)
    If yes… any news from your side, or interesting links you may have come across to share ?


    "Biologists on the Verge of Creating New Form of Life

    A team of biologists and chemists is closing in on bringing non-living matter to life.
    a lab led by Jack Szostak, a molecular biologist at Harvard Medical School, is building simple cell models that can almost be called life.

    Szostak’s protocells are built from fatty molecules that can trap bits of nucleic acids that contain the source code for replication. Combined with a process that harnesses external energy from the sun or chemical reactions, they could form a self-replicating, evolving system that satisfies the conditions of life, but isn’t anything like life on earth now, but might represent life as it began or could exist elsewhere in the universe..

    ..Protocellular work is even more radical than the other field trying to create artifical life: synthetic biology. Even J. Craig Venter’s work to build an artificial bacterium with the smallest number of genes necessary to live takes current life forms as a template. Protocell researchers are trying to design a completely novel form of life that humans have never seen and that may never have existed."

  13. Yes, we have known about the horizontal gene transfer, it has been cited several times though the money men don’t often listen to the broader debates ? Fox News is at best conservative and biased in this area surely as well. ‘Bioneer’ and its derviations have also been used in relationship to biotechnology.
    As an admin for a group called A Picture for a GMO Free World, and we’d love to have this added to the group!

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