The Power of Biotech

I'm taking what might be the flagship course of the entire M. Biotech program - Engineering Biotech II taught Prof Scott Diamond, who is the director of the M. Biotech program. This is an amazing class which discusses all major topics in modern biotech. In the first class we went through a case study of tPA (tissue plasminogen activator), a clot buster that is used to break up clots in the cases of heart attacks and strokes. Drug probably isn't the best word here - tPA is a protein, but I'll call it a drug.

We studied Genentech's discovery of the drug, and the myriad different drugs that compete with this technology - drugs that are half the size of this drug to allow for better penetration in the clot, drugs based on snake venom (Amgen / Nuvelo), drugs based on bat venom, drug coated stents. We explored patent and business issues - getting into European generics.

There is an analogy to the world of electrical engineering and computer science in biotech. First, there is the 'algorithm' - how are you going to solve a problem? What's your strategy? In biotech, that means isolating the gene you want to alter, etc. Then, there's the 'hardware' - how are you going to physically make your algorithm work? There are the specific manufacturing steps to go through and delivery mechanisms for the 'drug'.

This class is a reminder of why I'm in this program to begin with. The science, business, and legal aspects are fascinating. But mostly it's the science that is fascinating. The problem solving strategies are limitless in biotech. Chemists can only do so much with traditional chemical techniques and can only manufacture small molecules. Large molecules are too difficult or expensive to manufacture. Chemists can't manufacture anything remotely close to a cell. But cells can do this - for free, and quite well. Biotech takes advantage of biology's inherent ability to manufacture very complex things. Basically, don't try to beat 'em, just join 'em. Make that cell your assistant and get it to make the things you want. The possibilities are now limitless. Genetic engineering can create better and more plentiful crops, etc. This technology can revolutionize the world, and not just in healthcare - this can change economics, international relations, and social interactions. It may even lengthen life spans. It's like having the code to your Microsoft OS and manipulating it so that you can have a green background screen, faster load time, automatic loading of certain programs - basically whatever you want. When you know the code and can change the code, the world is your oyster.