# Biotechnology — Editing biology like software

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Category: Technology
Slides: 13
Updated: 2026-05-17T20:55:46.766Z
Tags: catalog, tech, biotech

## Summary

From cutting and pasting genes in 1973 to writing mRNA scripts that run inside your cells. A working tour of the platforms that turned living systems into engineerable substrate. Key sections include: BIOTECHNOLOGY Editing biology like software; Recombinant DNA: cut, paste, run.; A startup turns the lab trick into a company.; Human insulin, brewed in E. coli.; PCR: a Xerox machine for DNA.; Sequencing collapses 100,000× in cost.; One target. One molecule. One blockbuster.; CRISPR: programmable scissors with a GPS.; mRNA platforms: ship the recipe, not the protein.; Synthetic biology: bacteria as fabs..

## Slide Outline

1. BIOTECHNOLOGY Editing biology like software
2. Recombinant DNA: cut, paste, run.
3. A startup turns the lab trick into a company.
4. Human insulin, brewed in E. coli.
5. PCR: a Xerox machine for DNA.
6. Sequencing collapses 100,000× in cost.
7. One target. One molecule. One blockbuster.
8. CRISPR: programmable scissors with a GPS.
9. mRNA platforms: ship the recipe, not the protein.
10. Synthetic biology: bacteria as fabs.
11. Bespoke cells. Living drugs.
12. In-vivo editing, organoids, generative biology.
13. Read & watch.

## Slide Transcript

### Slide 1: BIOTECHNOLOGY
Editing biology like software

- Catalog · Technology Series
- From cutting and pasting genes in 1973 to writing mRNA scripts that run inside your cells. A working tour of the platforms that turned living systems into engineerable substrate.
- 13 slides
- ~ 6 min read
- Use ← → or click

### Slide 2: Recombinant DNA: cut, paste, run.

- 021973 · OriginCohen & Boyer
- Stanley Cohen and Herbert Boyer used restriction enzymes as molecular scissors and plasmids as carriers, then dropped engineered DNA into E. coli — and it ran. Biology became a copy/paste medium.
- Restriction enzymes
- Bacterial proteins that snip DNA at specific sequences — the original "Ctrl-X."
- Plasmids
- Small circular DNA that copies itself inside bacteria. The first delivery vehicle.
- Why it matters
- Genes became portable software. Any organism could host any sequence.

### Slide 3: A startup turns the lab trick into a company.

- 031976 · IndustryGenentech founded
- Boyer + venture capitalist Robert Swanson founded Genentech in South San Francisco — the first firm built explicitly to commercialize recombinant DNA. Biotech as an industry begins here.
- The pitch
- If bacteria can be programmed to make any protein, they can make medicines. At scale. Cheaply.
- The IPO (1980)
- Genentech's stock jumped from $35 to $88 in 20 minutes — Wall Street had just discovered biotech.

### Slide 4: Human insulin, brewed in E. coli.

- 041982 · First drugHumulin
- Before 1982, insulin was harvested from pig and cow pancreases. Genentech & Eli Lilly inserted the human insulin gene into bacteria — a fermentation tank now made identical-to-human protein. The first FDA-approved biotech drug.
- 1982
- FDA approval
- ~ 8,000
- pancreases / patient / yr (old way)
- 1 tank
- replaces a slaughterhouse
- Proof of concept that swept biology: you don't extract — you express.

### Slide 5: PCR: a Xerox machine for DNA.

- 051983 · MethodPCR · Kary Mullis
- Polymerase Chain Reaction takes one DNA molecule and, through 30 thermal cycles, copies it a billion-fold in an afternoon. Forensics, diagnostics, COVID tests — all downstream of this trick.
- Denature
- 95°C splits the double helix into single strands.
- Anneal
- ~55°C lets short primers latch onto target sites.
- Extend
- 72°C — Taq polymerase doubles the template. Repeat 30×.
- 230 ≈ one billion. Exponentials, applied to biology.

### Slide 6: Sequencing collapses 100,000× in cost.

- 062003→Now · ReadingSanger → Illumina
- The Human Genome Project cost ~$2.7B and took 13 years. Today an Illumina NovaSeq reads a full human genome overnight for a few hundred dollars. Biology's "Moore's Law" — only steeper.
- 2003
- First human genome
- $100M → $200
- per genome
- overnight
- turn-around today
- Reading became cheap before writing did. That asymmetry shaped the field for two decades — and is starting to flip.

### Slide 7: One target. One molecule. One blockbuster.

- 07Drugs · TargetedMonoclonal antibodies
- Antibodies are Y-shaped proteins your immune system uses to grab specific molecules. Monoclonals are factory-made versions, engineered to bind a single target — and they have rewired modern medicine.
- Humira — autoimmune; once the world's top-selling drug.
- Keytruda — releases the brakes on T-cells; cancer immunotherapy.
- Herceptin, Rituxan, Ozempic-class — receptor-specific medicines.

### Slide 8: CRISPR: programmable scissors with a GPS.

- 082012 · EditingCRISPR-Cas9
- Doudna & Charpentier (2012) showed Cas9 + a guide RNA can be aimed at any 20-letter sequence in a genome. Editing went from heroic to recipe.
- Guide RNA
- A 20-nt address line. Change the guide, change the target.
- Cas9 nuclease
- Cuts both DNA strands at the chosen address.
- Casgevy (2023)
- First FDA-approved CRISPR therapy — sickle cell disease.
- Base editing & prime editing extend the toolbox to single-letter rewrites without cutting.

### Slide 9: mRNA platforms: ship the recipe, not the protein.

- 092020+ · PlatformmRNA
- Lipid nanoparticles deliver mRNA into cells; ribosomes read the script and produce the target protein. COVID vaccines proved the platform at planetary scale — oncology vaccines and rare-disease therapies are next.
- Sequence-to-vial in weeks, not years.
- Same factory, different payload.
- Personalized cancer vaccines: tumor-specific neoantigens, made for one patient.

### Slide 10: Synthetic biology: bacteria as fabs.

- 10Synthetic biologyDesign · Build · Test
- Design DNA on a screen → order it from a DNA synthesis vendor → drop it into an engineered host → it makes the molecule for you. The wet-lab equivalent of "compile and run."
- Design
- CAD tools, codon optimization, pathway models.
- Synthesize
- Print custom genes; per-base costs falling steadily.
- Brew
- Yeast, E. coli, mammalian cells, even cell-free systems make the product.
- Examples: artemisinin (anti-malarial), spider-silk fibers, animal-free dairy proteins, leather, fragrances, fuels.

### Slide 11: Bespoke cells. Living drugs.

- 11Cell & gene therapyOne-shot medicine
- Instead of a daily pill, you re-engineer the patient's own biology — once.
- CAR-T
- Take a patient's T-cells, equip them with a synthetic receptor, infuse them back. Some leukemias go into durable remission.
- AAV vectors
- Engineered viruses deliver corrected genes — Luxturna (vision), Zolgensma (SMA), Hemgenix (hemophilia B).
- Bespoke n=1
- Custom CRISPR therapies designed for individual children with ultra-rare mutations are now reaching patients.

### Slide 12: In-vivo editing, organoids, generative biology.

- 12FrontiersWhat's next
- In-vivo editing
- CRISPR delivered directly into the body — no cell extraction. Early wins in liver-targeted disease (e.g., transthyretin amyloidosis).
- Organoids
- Mini-brains, mini-guts, mini-livers grown from stem cells — drug testing without animals; disease in a dish.
- Generative biology
- AI models (AlphaFold, ESM, RFdiffusion) design proteins from scratch. Antibodies, enzymes, binders — written, not discovered.
- 1973rDNA
- 1982Humulin
- 1983PCR
- 2003Genome
- 2012CRISPR
- 2020+mRNA / AI

### Slide 13: Read & watch.

- 13ReferencesGoing deeper
- Books / long reads
- Siddhartha Mukherjee — The Gene
- Walter Isaacson — The Code Breaker (Doudna & CRISPR)
- Sally Smith Hughes — Genentech: The Beginnings of Biotech
- NIH / NHGRI primers (free, current)
- Watch on YouTube
- mRNA vaccine science →
- CRISPR-Cas9 explained →
- Search-results links so you can pick the channel you trust.
- End of deck · press ← to revisit, or click anywhere to advance.


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