Grokking Synthetic Biology | Dmitriy Ryaboy (Twitter, Ginkgo Bioworks)

Grokking Synthetic Biology | Dmitriy Ryaboy (Twitter, Ginkgo Bioworks)

Author: Ronak Nathani, Guang Yang July 16, 2024 Duration: 1:08:51

From building a data platform and Parquet at Twitter to using AI to make biology easier to engineer at Ginkgo Bioworks, Dmitriy joins the show to chat about the early days of big data, the conversation that made him jump into SynBio, LLMs for proteins and more.

Segments: 
(00:03:18) Data engineering roots
(00:05:40) Early influences at Lawrence Berkeley Lab 
(00:09:46) Value of a "gentleman's education in computer science" 
(00:14:34) The end of junior software engineers 
(00:20:10) Deciding to go back to school 
(00:21:36) Early experiments with distributed systems 
(00:23:33) The early days of big data 
(00:29:16) "The thing we used to call big data is now ai" 
(00:31:02) The maturation of data engineering 
(00:35:05) From consumer tech to biotech 
(00:37:42) "The 21st century is the century of biology" 
(00:40:54) The science of lab automation 
(00:47:22) Software development in biotech vs. consumer tech 
(00:50:34) Swes make more $$ than scientists? 
(00:54:27) Llms for language is boring. Llms for proteins? that's cool 
(01:02:52) Protein engineering 101 
(01:06:01) Model explainability in biology

Show Notes:

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Music: Vlad Gluschenko — Forest License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en


Behind every line of code, there's a person with a story, and that's where Software Misadventures finds its pulse. Hosts Ronak Nathani and Guang Yang pull up a chair with engineers, founders, and investors, but the conversation rarely stays in the technical manual. Instead, it wanders into the human territory of career detours, hard-won insights, and those unpredictable stumbles that often teach the most. This podcast is built on the idea that the journey is just as important as the destination, especially in the fast-moving tech world. You'll hear guests recount the projects that went sideways, the decisions they'd rethink, and the moments of clarity that emerged from the chaos. It’s a refreshingly honest look at the industry, emphasizing that expertise isn't just about what you build, but what you learn when things don't go as planned. Tune in for conversations that are less about perfect solutions and more about the real, sometimes messy, process of creating with technology. Each episode offers a blend of professional wisdom and personal narrative, making it a compelling listen for anyone curious about the lives woven into our digital landscape.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 55

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