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Resource: List of Biotechnology Companies to Watch

May 10, 2021March 21, 2026By logancollins 5 Comments

PDF version: List of Biotechnology Companies to Watch – by Logan Thrasher Collins

I created this list of organizations (163 total to date) to serve as a resource to help people learn about and keep track of key biotechnology companies. Some of these are emerging startups, some are established giants, and some provide useful services. Some notable nonprofit research organizations are included as well. Though this list is far from comprehensive, I have tried to cover as many of the key players as possible. It is also important to realize that this landscape is constantly changing, so some of the information on this list will eventually transition into antiquity. The list was originally started over the course of 2021, updated during the summer of 2022, updated during the summer of 2024, updated in January 2025, and updated in September-October 2025. [Note: as of March 2026, I am adding some more entries as well]. I hope you enjoy delving into the exciting world of biotechnology!

Notes on Quantum Mechanics

February 10, 2021September 2, 2021By logancollins No Comments

PDF version: Notes on Quantum Mechanics – By Logan Thrasher Collins

The Schrödinger equation and wave functions

Overview of the Schrödinger equation and wave functions

Quantum mechanical systems are described in terms of wave functions Ψ(x,y,z,t). Unlike classical functions of motion, wave functions determine the probability that a given particle may occur in some region. The way that this is achieved involves integration and will be discussed later in these notes.

To find a wave function, one must solve the Schrödinger equation for the system in question. There are time-dependent and time-independent versions of the Schrödinger equation. The time-dependent version is given in 1D and 3D by the first pair of equations below and the time-independent version is given in 1D and 3D by the second pair of equations below. Here, ћ is h/2π (and h is Planck’s constant), V is the particle’s potential energy, E is the particle’s total energy, Ψ is a time dependent wave function, ψ is a time-independent wave function, and m is the mass of the particle. After this point, these notes will focus on 1D cases unless otherwise specified (it will often be relatively straightforward to extrapolate to the 3D case).

For a wave function to make physical sense, it needs to satisfy the constraint that its integral from –∞ to ∞ must equal 1. This reflects the probabilistic nature of quantum mechanics; the probability that a particle may be found anywhere in space must be 1. For this reason, one must usually find a (possibly complex) normalization constant A after finding the wave function solution to the Schrödinger equation. This is accomplished by solving the following integral for A. Here, Ψ* is the complex conjugate of the wave function without the normalization constant and Ψ is the wave function without the normalization constant.

To obtain solutions to the time-dependent Schrödinger equation, one must first solve the time-independent Schrödinger equation to get ψ(x). The general solution for the time-dependent Schrödinger equation is any linear combination of the product of ψ(x) with an exponential term (see below). The coefficients c_n can be real or complex.

Physically, |c_n|² represents the probability that a measurement of the system’s energy would return a value of E_n. As such, an infinite sum of all the |c_n|² values is equal to 1. In addition, note that each Ψ_n(x,t) = ψ_n(x)e^–iEⁿ^t/^ℏ is known as a stationary state. The reason these solutions are called stationary states is because the expectation values of measurable quantities are independent of time when the system is in a stationary state (as a result of the time-dependent term canceling out).

Using wave functions

Once a wave function is known, it can be used to learn about the given quantum mechanical system. Though wave functions specify the state of a quantum mechanical system, this state usually cannot undergo measurement without altering the system, so the wave function must be interpreted probabilistically. The way the probabilistic interpretation is achieved will be explained over the course of this section.

Before going further, it will be useful to understand some methods from probability. First, the expectation value is the average of all the possible outcomes of a measurement as weighted by their likelihood (it is not the most likely outcome as the name might suggest). Next, the standard deviation σ describes the spread of a distribution about an average value. Note that the square of the standard deviation is called the variance.

Equations for the expectation value and standard deviation are given as follows. The first equation computes the expectation value for a discrete variable j. Here, P(j) is the probability of measurement f(j) for a given j. The second equation is a convenient way to compute the standard deviation σ associated with the expectation value for j. The third equation computes the expectation value for a continuous function f(x). Here, ρ(x) is the probability density of x. When ρ(x) is integrated over an interval a to b, it gives the probability that measurement x will be found over that interval. The fourth equation the same as the second equation, but finds the standard deviation σ for the continuous variable x.

In quantum mechanics, operators are employed in place of measurable quantities such as position, momentum, and energy. These operators play a special role in the probabilistic interpretation of wave functions since they help one to compute an expectation value for the corresponding measurable quantity.

To compute the expectation value for a measurable quantity Q in quantum mechanics, the following equation is used. Here, Ψ is the time-dependent wave function, Ψ* is the complex conjugate of the time-dependent wave function, and Q̂ is the operator corresponding to Q.

Any quantum operator which corresponds to a classical dynamical variable can be expressed in terms of the momentum operator –iℏ(∂/∂x). By rewriting a given classical expression in terms of momentum p and then replacing every p within the expression by –iℏ(∂/∂x), the corresponding quantum operator is obtained. Below, a table of common quantum mechanical operators in 1D and 3D is given.

Heisenberg uncertainty principle

The Heisenberg uncertainty principle explains why quantum mechanics requires a probabilistic interpretation. According to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, the more precisely the position of a particle is determined via some measurement, the less precisely its momentum can be known (and vice versa). The Heisenberg uncertainty principle is quantified by the following equation.

The reason for the Heisenberg uncertainty principle comes from the wave nature of matter (and not from the observer effect). For a sinusoidal wave, the wave itself is not really located at any particular site, it is instead spread out across the cycles of the sinusoid. For a pulse wave, the wave can be localized to the site of the pulse, but it does not really have a wavelength. There are also intermediate cases where the wavelength is somewhat poorly defined and the location is somewhat well-defined or vice-versa. Since the wavelength of a particle is related to the momentum by the de Broglie formula p = h/λ = 2πℏ/λ, this means that the interplay between the wavelength and the position applies to momentum and position as well. The Heisenberg uncertainty principle quantifies this interplay.

Some simple quantum mechanical systems

Infinite square well

The infinite square well is a system for which a particle’s V(x) = 0 when 0 ≤ x ≤ a and its V(x) = ∞ otherwise. Because the potential energy is infinite outside of the well, the probability of finding the particle there is zero. Inside the well, the time-independent Schrödinger equation is given as follows. This equation is the same as the classical simple harmonic oscillator.

For the infinite square well, certain boundary conditions apply. In order for the wave function to be continuous, the wave function must equal zero once it reaches the walls, so ψ(0) = ψ(a) = 0. The general solution to the infinite square well differential equation is given as the first equation below. The boundary condition ψ(0) = 0 is employed in the second equation below. Since the coefficient B = 0, there are only sine solutions to the equation. Furthermore, if ψ(a) = 0, then Asin(ka) = 0. This means that k = nπ/a (where n = 1, 2, 3…) as given by the third equation below. The fourth equation below shows that this set of values for k leads to a set of possible discrete energy levels for the system

To find the constant A, the wave function ψ = Asin(nπx/a) must undergo normalization. As mentioned earlier, normalization is achieved by setting the normalization integral equal to 1 and solving for the constant A. Note that the time-independent Schrödinger equation can be utilized in the normalization integral since the exponential component of the time-dependent Schrödinger equation would cancel anyways.

Using this information, the wave functions for the infinite square well particle system are obtained. The time-independent and time-dependent wave functions are both displayed below at left and right respectively.

This infinite set of wave functions has some important properties. They possess discrete energies that increase by a factor of n² with each level (and n = 1 is the ground state). The wave functions are also orthonormal. This property is described by the following equation. Here, δ_mn is the Kronecker delta and is defined below.

Another important property of these wave functions is completeness. This means that any function can be expressed as a linear combination of the time-independent wave functions ψ_n. The reason for this remarkable property is that the general solution (see below) is equivalent to a Fourier series.

The first equation below can be employed to compute the n^th coefficient c_n. Here, f(x) = Ψ(x,0) which is an initial wave function. Note that the initial wave function can be any function Ψ(x,0) and the result will generate coefficients for that starting point. This first equation is derived using the orthonormality of the solution set. Note that the formula applies to most quantum mechanical systems since the properties of orthonormality and completeness hold for most quantum mechanical systems (though there are some exceptions). The second equation below computes the c_n coefficients specifically for the infinite square well system.

Quantum harmonic oscillator

For the quantum harmonic oscillator, the potential energy in the Schrödinger equation is given by V(x) = 0.5kx² = 0.5mω²x². This means that the following time-independent Schrödinger equation needs to be solved.

There are two main methods for solving this differential equation. These include a ladder operator approach and a power series approach. Both of these methods are quite complicated and will not be covered here. The solutions for n = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 are given below. Here, H_n(y) is the n^th Hermite polynomial. The first five Hermite polynomials and the corresponding energies for the system are given in the table. Note that the discrete energy levels for the quantum harmonic oscillator follow the form (n + 0.5)ћω.

As with any quantum mechanical system, the quantum harmonic oscillator is further described by the general time-dependent solution. To identify the coefficients c_n for this general solution, Fourier’s trick is employed (see previous section) where f(x) is once again any initial wave function Ψ(x,0).

Quantum free particle

Though the classical free particle is a simple problem, there are some nuances which arise in the case of the quantum mechanical free particle which greatly complicate the system.

To start, the Schrödinger equation for the quantum free particle is given in the first equation below. Here, k = (2mE)^0.5/ћ. Note that V(x) = 0 since there is no external potential acting on the particle. The second equation below is a general time-independent solution to the system in exponential form. The third equation below is the time-dependent solution to the system where the terms are multiplied by e^–iEt/^ћ. Realize that this general solution can be written as a single term by redefining k as ±(2mE)^0.5/ћ. When k > 0, the solution is a wave propagating to the right. When k < 0, the solution is a wave propagating to the left.

The speed of these propagating waves can be found by dividing the coefficient of t (which is ћk²/2m) by the coefficient of x (which is k). Since this is speed, the direction of the wave does not matter, so one can take the absolute value of k. By contrast, the speed of a classical particle is found by solving E = 0.5mv², which gives a puzzling result that is twice as fast as the quantum particle.

Another challenge associated with the quantum free particle is that its wave function is non-normalizable (as shown below). Because of this, one can conclude that free particles cannot exist in stationary states. Equivalently, free particles never exhibit definite energies.

To resolve these issues with the quantum free particle, it has been found that the wave function of a quantum free particle actually carries a range of energies and speeds known as a wave packet. The solution for this wave packet involves the integral given by the first equation below and a function ϕ(k) given by the second equation below. This second equation allows one to determine ϕ(k) to fit a desired initial wave function Ψ(x,0). It was obtained using a mathematical tool called Plancherel’s theorem.

The above solution to the quantum free particle is now normalizable. Furthermore, the issue with the speed of the quantum free particle having a value twice as large as the speed of the classical free particle is fixed by considering a phenomenon known as group velocity. The waveform of the particle is an oscillating sinusoid (see image). This waveform includes an envelope, which represents the overall shape of the oscillations rather than the individual ripples. The group velocity v_g is the speed of this envelope while the phase velocity v_p is the speed of the ripples. It can be shown using the definitions of phase velocity and group velocity (see below) that the group velocity is twice the phase velocity, resolving the problem with the particle speed. The group velocity of the envelope is thus what actually corresponds to the speed of the particle.

Interlude on bound states and scattering states

To review, the solutions to the Schrödinger equation for the infinite square well and quantum harmonic oscillator were normalizable and labeled by a discrete index n while the solution to the Schrödinger equation for the free particle was not normalizable and was labeled by a continuous variable k.

The solutions which are normalizable and labeled by a discrete index are known as bound states. The solutions which are not normalizable and are labeled by a continuous variable are known scattering states.

Bound states and scattering states are related to certain classical mechanical phenomena. Bound states correspond to a classical particle in a potential well where the energy is not large enough for the particle to escape the well. Scattering states correspond to a particle which might be influenced by a potential but has a large enough energy to pass through the potential without getting trapped.

In quantum mechanics, bound states occur when E < V(∞) and E < V(–∞) since the phenomenon of quantum tunneling allows quantum particles to leak through any finite potential barrier. Scattering states occur when E > V(∞) or E > V(–∞). Since most potentials go to zero at infinity or negative infinity, this simplifies to bound states happening when E < 0 and scattering states happening when E > 0.

The infinite square well and the quantum harmonic oscillator represent bound states since V(x) goes to ∞ when x → ±∞. By contrast, the quantum free particle represents a scattering state since V(x) = 0 everywhere. However, there are also potentials which can result in both bound and scattering states. These kinds of potentials will be explored in the following sections.

Delta-function well

Recall that the Dirac delta function δ(x) is an infinitely high and infinitely narrow spike at the origin with an area equal to 1 (the area is obtained by integrating). The spike appears at the point a along the x axis when δ(x – a) is used. One important property of the Dirac delta function is that f(x)δ(x – a) = f(a)δ(x – a). By integrating both sides of the equation of this property, one can obtain the following useful expression. Note that a ± ϵ is used as the bounds since any positive value ϵ will then allow the bounds to encompass the Dirac delta function spike.

The delta-function well is a potential of the form –αδ(x) where α is a positive constant. As a result, the time-independent Schrödinger equation for the delta-function well system is given as follows. This equation has solutions that yield bound states when E < 0 and scattering states when E > 0.

For the bound states where E < 0, the general solutions are given by equations below. The substitution κ is defined by the first equation below, the second equation below is the general solution for x < 0, and the third equation below is the general solution for x > 0. (Since E is assumed to have a negative value, κ is real and positive). Note that V(x) = 0 for x < 0 and x > 0. In the solution for x < 0, the Ae^–κx term explodes as x → –∞, so A must equal zero. In the solution for x > 0, the Fe^κx term explodes as x → ∞, so F must equal zero.

To combine these equations, one must use appropriate boundary conditions at x = 0. For any quantum system, ψ is continuous and dψ/dt is continuous except at points where the potential is infinite. The requirement for ψ to exhibit continuity means that F = B at x = 0. As a result, the solution for the bound states can be concisely stated as follows. In addition, a plot of the delta-function well’s bound state time-independent wave function is given below.

The presence of the delta function influences the energy E. To find the energy, one can integrate the time-independent Schrödinger equation for the delta-function well system. By making the bounds of integration ±ϵ and then taking the limit as ϵ approaches zero, the integral works only on the negative spike of the delta function at x = 0. The result for the energy is at the end of the following set of equations.

As seen above, the delta-function well only exhibits a single bound state energy E. By normalizing the wave function ψ(x) = Be^–κ|x|, the constant B is found (as seen in the first equation below). The second equation below describes the single bound state wave function and reiterates the single bound state energy associated with this wave function.

For the scattering states where E > 0, the general solutions are given by equations below. The substitution k is defined by the first equation below, the second equation below is the general solution for x < 0, and the third equation below is the general solution for x > 0. (Since E is assumed to have a positive value, k is real and positive). Note that V(x) = 0 for x < 0 and x > 0. None of the terms explode this time, so none of the terms can be ruled out as equal to zero.

As a consequence of the requirement for ψ(x) to be continuous at x = 0, the following equation involving the constants A, B, F, and G must hold true. This is the first boundary condition.

There is also a second boundary condition which involves dψ/dx. Recall the following step (see first equation below) from the process of integrating the Schrödinger equation. To implement this step, the derivatives of ψ(x) (see second equation below) are found and then the limits of these derivatives from the left and right directions are taken (see third equation below). Since ψ(0) = A + B as seen in the equation above, the second boundary condition can be given as the final equation below.

By rearranging the final equation above and substituting in a parameter β = mα/ћ²k, the following expression is obtained. This expression is a compact way of writing the second boundary condition.

These two boundary conditions provide two equations, but there are four unknowns in these equations (five unknowns if k is included). Despite this, the physical significance of the unknown constants can be helpful. When e^ikx is multiplied by the factor for time-dependence e^–iEt/ћ, it gives rise to a wave propagating to the right. When e^–ikx is multiplied by the factor for time-dependence e^–iEt/ћ, it gives rise to a wave propagating to the left. As a result, the constants describe the amplitudes of various waves. A is the amplitude of a wave moving to the right on the x < 0 side of the delta-function potential, B is the amplitude of a wave moving to the left on the x < 0 side of the delta-function potential, F is the amplitude of a wave moving to the right on the x > 0 side of the delta-function potential, and G is the amplitude of a wave moving to the left on the x > 0 side of the delta-function potential.

In a typical experiment on this type of system, particles are fired from one side of the delta-function potential, the left or the right. If the particles are coming from the left (moving to the right), the term with G will equal zero. If the particles are coming from the right (moving to the left), the term with A will equal zero. This can be understood intuitively by examining the figure above.

As an example, for the case of particles fired from the left (moving to the right), A is the amplitude of the incident wave, B is the amplitude of the reflected wave, and F is the amplitude of the transmitted wave. The equations of the two boundary conditions are reiterated in the first line below. By solving these equations, the second line of expressions is found. Since the probability of finding a particle at a certain location is |Ψ|², the relative probability R of an incident particle undergoing reflection and the relative probability T of an incident particle undergoing transmission are given by the third line of expressions below.

Also for the example case of particles fired from the left (moving to the right), by substituting back from β = mα/ћ²k and k = (2mE)^0.5/ћ to get the expressions in terms of energy, the following equations are obtained for the reflection and transmission relative probabilities.

By performing the same process, but with A = 0 instead of G = 0, corresponding equations can be found for the case of particles fired from the right (moving towards the left).

It is important to note that, since these scattering wave functions are not normalizable, they do not actually represent possible particle states. To solve this problem, one must construct normalizable linear combinations of the stationary states in a manner similar to that performed with the quantum free particle system. In this way, wave packets will occur and the actual particles will be described by the range of energies of the wave packets. Because the actual normalizable system exhibits a range of energies, the probabilities R and T should be thought of as approximate measures of reflection and transmission for particles with energies in the vicinity of E.

Finite square well

The finite square well is a system for which a particle’s V(x) = –V₀ when –a ≤ x ≤ a and its V(x) = 0 otherwise. For this system, the Schrödinger equation is given as follows for the conditions x < –a, –a ≤ x ≤ a, and x > a. Note that the equations for x < –a and x > a are the same since V(x) = 0 in both cases (but the boundary conditions will differ as will be explained soon). As with the Delta-function potential well, the finite square well has both bound states (with E < 0) and scattering states (with E > 0). First, the bound states with E < 0 will be considered. In this case, the Schrödinger equations for the finite square well are as follows.

For the cases of x < –a and x > a where V(x) = 0, the general solutions to the Schrödinger equation are respectively Ae^–κx + Be^κx and Fe^–κx + Ge^κx where A, B, F, and G are arbitrary constants. In the x < –a case, the Ae^–κx term blows up as x → –∞, making this term physically invalid. As a result, the physically admissible solution is ψ(x) = Be^κx. In the x > a case, the Ge^κx term blows up as as x → ∞, making this term physically invalid. As a result, the physically admissible solution is ψ(x) = Fe^–κx. For the case of –a ≤ x ≤ a, the general solution to the Schrödinger equation is ψ(x) = Csin(lx) + Dcos(lx). Note that, because E must be greater than the minimum potential energy V_min = –V₀, the value of l ends up real and positive (even though E is also negative). These solutions are summarized by the following equations.

Since the potential V(x) = –V₀ is an even function (symmetric about the y axis), one can choose to write the solutions to the wave function as either even or odd. This comes from some properties of the time-independent Schrödinger equation. Next, it is again important to constrain these solutions using the boundary conditions which require the continuity of ψ(x) and dψ/dx at ±a.

For the even solutions, the constant C in ψ(x) = Csin(lx) + Dcos(lx) is zero. Because C = 0, the remaining equation is the even function ψ(x) = Dcos(lx) for –a ≤ x ≤ a. So, the continuity of ψ(x) and dψ/dx at +a necessitates the following two equations to hold true. The third equation comes from dividing the second equation by the first equation to solve for κ.

For the odd solutions, the constant D in ψ(x) = Csin(lx) + Dcos(lx) is zero. Because D = 0, the remaining equation is the odd function ψ(x) = Dsin(lx) for –a ≤ x ≤ a. So, the continuity of ψ(x) and dψ/dx at +a necessitates the following two equations to hold true. The third equation comes from dividing the second equation by the first equation to solve for κ.

As κ and l are both functions of E, the κ = ltan(la) and κ = –lcot(la) equations can be solved for E. To do this, it is convenient to use the notation z = la and z₀ = (a/ћ)(2mV₀)^0.5. Simplifying the κ = ltan(la) and κ = –lcot(la) equations using this notation gives the following results. These equations can be solved numerically for z or graphically for z by looking for points of intersection (after obtaining z, E is easily computed).

Let us consider the tan(z) equation. There are two limiting cases of interest. These include a well which is wide and deep and a well which is shallow and narrow. Though not included in these notes, similar calculations can be performed for the –cot(z) equation.

For a wide and deep well, the value of z₀ is large. Intersections between the curves of tan(z_n) and ((z₀/z_n)² – 1)^0.5 occur at nπ/2 for odd n and at nπ for even n. This leads to the following equations which describe values of E_n. From this outcome, it can be seen that infinite V₀ results in the infinite square well case with an infinite number of bound states. However, for any finite square well, there are only a finite number of bound states.

For a shallow and narrow well, the value of z₀ is small. As the value of z₀ decreases, fewer and fewer bound states exist. Once z₀ is smaller than π/2, there is only one bound state (which is an even bound state). Interestingly, no matter how small the well, this one bound state always persists.

The scattering states, which occur when E > 0, will now be considered. In this case, the Schrödinger equations for the finite square well are as follows.

The general solutions to the Schrödinger equation for the finite square well’s scattering states are as follows.

But recall that in a typical scattering experiment, particles are fired from one side of the delta-function potential, the left or the right. Here it will be assumed that the particles are fired from the left side of the well (moving towards the right). Note that similar calculations could be performed for the opposite case. With this assumption, one can realize that the coefficient A represents the incident (from the left) wave’s amplitude, the coefficient B represents the reflected wave’s amplitude, and the coefficient F represents the transmitted (to the right) wave’s amplitude. Finally, the coefficient G = 0 since there is not an incident wave from the right moving towards the left.

There are four boundary conditions, continuity of ψ(x) at ±a and continuity of dψ/dx at ±a. These boundary conditions yield the following equations.

With the above equations, one can eliminate C and D and subsequently solve the system for B and F. This yields the equations below for B and F.

As with the delta-function well, a transmission coefficient T = |F|²/|A|² can be computed across the finite square well. Recall that T represents the probability of the particle undergoing transmission across the well (in this case when moving from the right side to the left side). The probability of the particle undergoing reflection is R = 1 – T.

Since 1/T equals the equation below, whenever the sine squared term is zero, the probability of transmission T = 1.

Recall that a sine (or sine squared) term is zero when the function inside of it equals nπ such that n is any integer.

Remarkably, the above equation is the same as the one which describes the infinite square well’s energies. But realize that, for the finite square well, this only holds in the case of T = 1.

Reference: Griffiths, D. J., & Schroeter, D. F. (2018). Introduction to Quantum Mechanics (3rd ed.). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/DOI: 10.1017/9781316995433

Cover image source: wikimedia.org

Logan’s Blog

January 8, 2021April 8, 2026By logancollins 1 Comment

Featured:

Amygdala Structure, Function, and Clinically Relevant Pathways

Challenges of Particular Interest to Me

Dopaminergic Neurons in the Ventral Tegmental Area as a Target for Treatment-Resistant Depression

Feasibility of mapping the human brain with expansion x-ray microscopy

Guide to the Structure and Function of the Adenovirus Capsid

Interesting Lab Websites

Introduction to the Physical Chemistry of Protein Folding

Key facts about protein vault biology

Logan’s List of Entrepreneurship Funding/Mentorship Resources

Notable Recent Events in Gene Therapy Translation January 2023 to January 2026

Notes on Classical Mechanics

Notes on Digital Electronics

Notes on Fundraising Mechanics for Startups

Notes on Graph Theory

Notes on Ultrasound Physics

Notes on Optics and Microscopy

Notes on x-ray physics

Practical Guide to Probability

Primer on the Biology of the Cerebral Cortex

Resource: List of Biotechnology Companies to Watch

Reexamining the neurobiological correlates of subjective experience for whole-brain emulation (slides)

Science Fiction and Speculative Poetry Publications by Logan Thrasher Collins

Science Fiction Book Reviews

The Path to Scalable Psychiatric Gene Therapy and a Future of Cures for Widespread Mental Illnesses — Restoring Joy to a Billion Lives

The Virus Zoo: A Primer on Molecular Virology

Want to learn biology? Recommended texts from beginner to advanced

Art: Kosmik Kaleidoscope (unpublished poem), Kosmos/Bios/Electronicos – a digital art gallery, Machine Children (unpublished visual poem), My digital art sampling, The Neon Hymenopterans, The Octopoid Occupation

Biology: Notes on Drosophila’s view on insect vision, Notes on honeybee sensory neurobiology, Some interesting organisms of the ocean, A Guide to CRISPR-Cas Nucleases

Engineering and Biotechnology: Notes on a topological representation of branching neuronal morphologies, Notes on computer architecture, Notes on observing the cell in its native state imaging subcellular dynamics in multicellular organisms, Notes on medicinal chemistry, Notes on nanoparticle physics, Notes on nanoparticle self-assembly, Notes on nanowires and nanoparticles in the nervous system, Notes on neural mass models, Notes on nucleic acid bioconjugation, Notes on RNA-seq, Notes on two-photon microscopy, Notes on universal resilience patterns in complex networks, Notes on upconversion nanoparticles, The Future of Biotechnology: Confluence of Next-Generation Experiment, Software, and Hardware for Deciphering and Rewriting Biological Systems, Global Highlights in Neurotechnology, Connectomics, and Brain Simulation

Mathematics: Algebraic Graph Mappings, Method for m-Dimensional Integration, Modeling global influences on networks by embedding them in manifolds, Notes on abstract Algebra, Notes on Banach and Hilbert Spaces, Notes on differential Geometry, Notes on dynamical Systems, Notes on topology

Miscellaneous: List of Exciting Fields, List of Some Interesting People, Topics of interest, Selection of Intriguing Nontraditional Funding Opportunities, Logan’s catalog of useful resources for creating the future, Logan’s List of Entrepreneurship Resources

Philosophy: Emotion as a property of information part 1: the physical basis for panpsychism, Emotion as a property of information part 2: engineering joy, Existential purpose: an engineering perspective, Nine answers from Logan Thrasher Collins (interview), Panpsychic epistemology: a physical basis for knowledge and justification, Rational romanticism overview, Towards an objective theory of morality, Cyborg Earth and the Technological Embryogenesis of the Biosphere, Reasons for Panpsychism

Physics: Notes on the Drude Model, Notes on Quantum Mechanics

main cover image source: “The Coming Age of De Novo Protein Design”

The Future of Biotechnology: Confluence of Next-Generation Experiment, Software, and Hardware for Deciphering and Rewriting Biological Systems

January 5, 2021January 7, 2021By logancollins No Comments

PDF version: The Future of Biotechnology

Less than 250 years after the conclusion of the Enlightenment, we have reached a point in human history where science has given us seemingly mystical abilities. We interact across thousands of kilometers nigh-instantaneously, we hold millions of libraries of knowledge in the palms of our hands, and hosts of shining buildings tower into the sky. Despite popular conceptions of doom and gloom, we are healthier, more peaceful, and less impoverished than ever before (Pinker, 2018). Our medicines can perform miracles such as making the blind see (Kumar et al., 2016; Lu et al., 2020), repairing damaged organs (Attanasio et al., 2016; Fioretta et al., 2018), and eradicating smallpox and rinderpest (Njeumi et al., 2012; Willis, 1997). When reflecting on all that is possible today, Arthur C. Clarke’s famous statement that “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” takes on more truth now than ever. But the next revolution, the revolution where we decipher biological complexity and rewrite biology itself for the better, has only just begun.

The convergence of new experimental methods, software, and hardware may act as a driving force for deciphering complex biological systems at a vastly deeper level than ever before. Enormously data-intensive experimental techniques in areas such as spatial transcriptomics and high-resolution volume and video microscopy will provide the foundation for advancing our understanding of biological systems (Liao et al., 2021; McDole et al., 2018; Titze & Genoud, 2016; Vogt, 2020; Wan et al., 2019). Robotic laboratory automation may further enhance the throughput of such methods (Angelone et al., 2021; HamediRad et al., 2019; Holland & Davies, 2020). In the realm of software, artificial intelligence (AI) advances will facilitate interpretation of patterns in massive amounts of biological data (Motta et al., 2019; Scheffer et al., 2020; Topol, 2019). At its heart, AI is a technology which extracts patterns from data. This means that AI can automate the process of sifting through oceans of complex multidimensional data and isolating a manageable number of insights with relevance to human affairs. In addition to AI, detailed integrative simulation techniques will aid prediction and description of biological mechanisms (Bezaire et al., 2016; Billeh et al., 2020; Karr et al., 2012; Markram et al., 2015; Singharoy et al., 2019; Yu et al., 2016). Some examples of these include large-scale molecular dynamics (MD) simulations (Singharoy et al., 2019; Yu et al., 2016), kinetic simulations of whole cells (Karr et al., 2012), and neurobiological simulations with tens of thousands of detailed virtual neurons (Bezaire et al., 2016; Billeh et al., 2020; Markram et al., 2015). As essential supporting technologies for these software innovations, key hardware advances may take the forms of quantum computing architectures (Cao et al., 2019; Outeiral et al., 2021), neuroscience-optimized neuromorphic computing architectures (Brown et al., 2018; Indiveri et al., 2011; Schemmel et al., 2017), and neuromorphic tensor processing unit architectures (Bains, 2020). Quantum computing may support quantum mechanical MD simulations as well as MD simulations with more particles and longer timescales (Cao et al., 2019; Outeiral et al., 2021), neuroscience-optimized neuromorphic computing may support realistic brain simulations (Brown et al., 2018; Indiveri et al., 2011; Schemmel et al., 2017), and neuromorphic tensor processing unit architectures may support much more powerful AI (Bains, 2020). The advent of exascale supercomputing will also play a central role in aiding the outlined software methods for the biological sciences (Lee & Amaro, 2018; Service, 2018). These changes will facilitate massive enhancement of our ability to make accurate predictions of how biological systems behave.

The convergence of experimental methods, software, and hardware may further act as a driving force for rewriting complex biological systems in a scalable and reproducible manner. The previously mentioned hardware advances could enable a surge in computer-aided design (CAD) software for engineering biology with nanoscale precision. To design new biology, these CAD innovations particularly may leverage AI (Kriegman et al., 2020; Zielinski et al., 2020), in silico directed evolution (Benson et al., 2019; Kriegman et al., 2020), kinetic modeling of cellular signaling and metabolic networks (Karr et al., 2012; Zielinski et al., 2020), and molecular dynamics (Benson et al., 2019; Shi et al., 2017) as well as improved graphical user interfaces (Grun et al., 2015). On the experimental side, laboratory automation and novel experimental tools may align to rapidly synthesize, validate, and iteratively improve biological inventions (Angelone et al., 2021; Chao et al., 2015; HamediRad et al., 2019; Schneider, 2018). These changes will facilitate tremendous strides in our collective capacity to create entirely new biology and to interface this new biology with existing biology.

Advances in our capacity to decipher and rewrite biology will dramatically advance the biomedical sciences. For instance, immunotherapies have the potential to eventually cure most or all cancers (Eggermont et al., 2013; ‘Mac’ Cheever, 2008; Yong et al., 2017). Medical nanorobots, some of which will consist of an exciting material known as DNA origami (Jiang et al., 2019), may also contribute to cancer treatment (Tregubov et al., 2018) and treatment of other diseases. In the case of DNA origami especially, CAD and MD will likely play a significant role (Benson et al., 2019; Douglas et al., 2009; Shi et al., 2017). AI, classical MD, and quantum MD will also enable the creation of numerous protein-based nanomachines with diverse applications by enabling rational design of proteins which have sophisticated dynamics (Kuhlman & Bradley, 2019; Melo et al., 2018; Pirro et al., 2020). Experimental automation and computational methods involving AI and integrative simulations could enable extremely rapid responses in the form of treatments, vaccines, and diagnostics to future outbreaks of infectious disease (Angelone et al., 2021; Chao et al., 2015; Schneider, 2018; Singh et al., 2020). While the threat of antibiotic resistance is concerning, phage therapy and synthetic biology treatments may further combat future forms of bacterial infection (Collins et al., 2019; Kortright et al., 2019). AI may automate a large portion of biomedical image analysis in the clinical setting (Topol, 2019). Donor organ shortages may end with the advent of bioprinted replacement organs (Cui et al., 2017; Mir & Nakamura, 2017). CAD methods may help improve the quality of bioprinted organs (Fay, 2020). AI and integrative simulations might help unlock the secrets of aging, allowing development of treatments for aging as a disease. This could both greatly increase human longevity and greatly decrease the incidence of aging-related illnesses (Fontana et al., 2014; Zhavoronkov et al., 2019). Wearable medical devices such as electronic tattoos could monitor health and prevent tragedies by giving people early warnings before physiological dysfunctions occur (Jeong & Lu, 2019). These represent some of the many possible biomedical technologies which may make us happier and healthier in the relatively near future.

One biomedical technology which may particularly make gains throughout the coming decades is gene therapy. Through synthetic biology manufacturing techniques (Le et al., 2019), gene therapies may shake off their currently prohibitive level of expense. Multiscale computational methods for understanding the human body at general and personalized levels (through AI and integrative simulations), CRISPR tools (Doudna, 2020), and superior nanobiotechnology delivery systems (Lundstrom, 2018; Wang et al., 2019) may allow gene therapy to start treating complex polygenic disorders (Carlson-Stevermer et al., 2020). These factors may even someday enable genetic modifications which make the human body more suited to space colonization (Norman & Reiss, 2020). If political polarization declines and the specter of genetic inequality loses its imminence, gene therapy could even enhance cognitive abilities and empathy in humans. While these prospects may seem frightening to some, it is important to realize that even a few more highly intelligent and empathetic people may make dramatic positive changes in our world (Rinn & Bishop, 2015). Gene therapy may also make major contributions to increasing human longevity (Bernardes de Jesus et al., 2012). Gene therapy could result in many positive transformations to our lives and even help to preserve the long-term future of humanity.

Neurotechnology may also soon come of age. Connectomics techniques, AI, and integrative simulations may give far better understanding of how to treat brain diseases in precisely targeted ways (Bullmore & Sporns, 2009; Markram, 2006; Markram et al., 2015; Mizutani et al., 2019). In particular, nanoscale connectomics might soon undergo a revolution as 4^th generation synchrotrons (Pacchioni, 2019) and the relatively cheap miniature synchrotrons called Lyncean Compact Light Sources (Hornberger et al., 2019) facilitate rapid imaging of brains at nanoscale resolution (Kuan et al., 2020). On the neuroelectronics side, brain-machine interfaces and electronic neural prostheses could treat traumatic brain injuries and sensory and motor ailments as well as extend human abilities to interface with the cloud and the physical environment (Acarón Ledesma et al., 2019; Flesher et al., 2016; Gaillet et al., 2020; Hampson et al., 2018; Liu et al., 2015; Musk, 2019). Optogenetic methods, which enable control of genetically modified neurons with pulses of light, might synergize with gene therapy to create much more precise and complex brain-computer interfaces (Balasubramaniam et al., 2018; Chen et al., 2018). Though currently in its infancy, neurotechnology will likely grow rapidly into a mature discipline which grants us new abilities in neuromedicine and beyond.

Novel biotechnologies will also have great influence on manufacturing and environmental conservation. Biological CAD methods, integrative simulations of metabolism and gene regulation, and laboratory automation may allow synthetic biology to create a panoply of new microorganisms which can cheaply and rapidly produce medicines (Meng & Ellis, 2020), nanostructures (Bhaskar & Lim, 2017; Furubayashi et al., 2020), and even useful macroscale materials (Tang et al., 2020). Engineered microorganisms may also act to clean up pollutants and greenhouse gases (Gong et al., 2016). Molecular CAD methods, MD simulations, and laboratory automation may further revolutionize manufacturing through the creation of artificial molecular factories (Krause & Feringa, 2020). These molecular factories could involve immobilizing optically programmable supramolecular complexes such as certain rotaxanes and catenanes (Bruns & Stoddart, 2014) on metal-organic frameworks or similar crystalline structures (Krause & Feringa, 2020). With these miniscule factories, the dream of molecularly or even atomically precise construction at scale might be in reach. In addition, molecular factories which clean up pollutants and greenhouse gases could also make great contributions to combatting environmental degradation (Aithal & Aithal, 2020; Subramanian et al., 2020). Another suite of emerging technologies for ecoengineering are gene drives. These propagate gene editing tools which modulate the reproduction of populations of mosquitos and other disease vectors, potentially helping to stop illnesses like malaria (Gantz et al., 2015; Noble et al., 2017). Synthetic biology may also provide “off switches” for these gene drives, preventing them from causing environmental problems if they get out of control (Xu et al., 2020). In the realm of food production, gene edited plants can be made more suited to vertical farming (Kwon et al., 2020; O’Sullivan et al., 2020), indoor farming on the moon or Mars (Cannon & Britt, 2019), or ocean-based agriculture (Simke, 2020). In vitro meat may eventually transform meat production into a much more sustainable industry while decreasing the prevalence of animal cruelty (Bryant & Barnett, 2020; Zhang et al., 2020). These innovations and others could go a long way towards combatting global challenges such as hunger and climate change.

The confluence of advances in experiment, software, and hardware will enable many exciting biotechnological changes in the coming decades. Clever new experimental techniques will couple with automation to produce oceans of biological data. AI and integrative simulations extract meaningful insights from those otherwise unmanageable data point oceans. Hardware advances in neuromorphic computing, quantum computing, and exascale supercomputing could enable the titanic computations necessary to push software to its full potential. With this trinity of drivers of scientific progress, a plethora of new biotechnologies may enter common use and radically transform how we live. Some major areas of impact for these biotechnologies will include biomedicine, neurotechnology, gene therapy, manufacturing, agriculture, environmental remediation, and space colonization. Some may raise objections about the risks of such rapid technological changes. To answer these objections, consider that any kind of human progress, technological or social, must involve missteps. Yet human ingenuity and determination corrects these missteps in an ever-evolving trajectory, leading to an overall better world. Technology will synergize with the indomitable human spirit to build a bright and beautiful future.

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Want to learn biology? Recommended texts from beginner to advanced

November 27, 2020By logancollins 2 Comments

PDF version: Recommended texts for learning biology by Logan Thrasher CollinsDownload

Preface:

I have seen a variety of online resources which recommend books for learning physics and mathematics (e.g. Chicago undergraduate mathematics bibliography, Susan Fowler’s So You Want To Learn Physics, How to Learn Math and Physics, etc.), yet there seems to be a paucity of similar resources for biological fields. To help fill this gap, I have compiled a handpicked list of textbooks which may aid those with a desire to learn biology.

I have also included books from fields such as mathematics, computer science, chemistry, physics, imaging, and nanotechnology which are important in biology. The books from adjacent fields which I recommend here are mostly targeted towards those readers who come from backgrounds which are not greatly quantitative. For this reason, books filled with lots of detailed mathematics are located in the advanced category. That said, I do assume some familiarity with mathematics and physics in the lower levels also.

Though this page so far does not include resources beyond textbooks, there are many other useful tools for learning about biology. Video lectures, educational books which are not textbooks (e.g. Thieme FlexiBooks, Lippincott’s Illustrated Reviews, etc.), scientific journal articles (especially review papers), reputable scientific news articles (e.g. Nature News and Views, Science Daily, Neuroscience News, etc.), Wikipedia, other educational websites, and research experience come to mind.

While this list is certainly not comprehensive, I have tried to cover as much ground as possible for the interested autodidact. These books represent the ones that I personally feel are the best for the given subjects at the given levels (beginner, lower intermediate, upper intermediate, and advanced). There are a lot of texts related to microbiology, biochemistry, and neuroscience. This bias reflects my own background in synthetic biology, nanobiotechnology, and connectomics. My list is currently lacking in ecology and evolutionary biology texts. If anyone is interested in contributing their own recommendations for these or other missing topics, feel free to contact me and we can figure out how to incorporate your texts.

One point that I would like to make is that you by no means need to read these books from cover to cover. It is much more efficient to learn biology by creating a curriculum for yourself and reading selected chapters and sections as they interest you. Over time, the knowledge will build up and you will start to see how it all connects. You will eventually begin to gain the ability to think critically about biological mechanisms and how perturbing them may influence the systems. I would recommend practicing this kind of thinking early on. You can begin to do thought experiments even when you are starting out. As you carry out these thought experiments, you can explore your books and the internet to try and figure out any missing pieces. This will exercise your ability to understand and make predictions about biological systems.

Biology is an expansive, interdisciplinary, and extremely exciting field. I hope that you enjoy your journey into the biological sciences!

Beginner:

These represent foundational texts which introduce biology and associated fields which are essential for understanding biology (i.e. chemistry, physics, and mathematics). They are at a high school or maybe college freshman level.

Biology

Campbell Biology – by Urry, Cain, Wasserman, Minorsky, Reece || An authoritative introduction to biology and its subdisciplines. It features clear explanations, good organization, and helpful illustrations. Though lengthy, you can often read desired subsections in any order. That said, I would recommend reading some molecular biology and genetics chapters before diving into physiology. It should be noted that this text is a primary source for the high school Biology Olympiad competition.

Chemistry

Chemistry – by Zumdahl, Zumdahl, and DeCoste || An introductory chemistry text which has good organization and illustrations. Though other general chemistry books could work just as well, I have a mild personal preference for this one.

Mathematics

Calculus – by Stewart || Though lengthy, this book is a good introduction to calculus. It explains single-variable calculus and multivariable calculus and even gives a small taste of differential equations. This is excellent since calculus and differential equations are so central to computational modeling of biological systems.

Physics

Physics for Scientists and Engineers: A Strategic Approach with Modern Physics – by Knight || While I have not used this book personally, I have heard good things with regards to its applicability for biology. As such, I picked out Knight’s text for this list entry because of its organization, its inclusion of modern physics, and its emphasis on practical applications.

Lower intermediate:

These books introduce a range of key subfields in biology. Though some of the texts are quite long (e.g. 800+ pages), I will say again that they do not need to be read cover to cover. These do not require greatly specialized knowledge to understand. They are typically used for first year or second year university courses. As with the previous section, I have included some non-biology texts covering fields adjacent to biology. Note that, because biology is an interdisciplinary enterprise, these adjacent fields are vitally important for understanding and applying biological knowledge.

Biochemistry

Lehninger’s Biochemistry – by Nelson and Cox || Great textbook which discusses biochemistry with both depth and breadth. It is not as detailed as Voet’s book (see the upper intermediate section), but it is not a light treatment either. This text features beautiful illustrations which are very helpful for gaining a deeply visual appreciation of how biochemistry works. In my opinion, it also has well-written treatments of the mathematics of enzyme kinetics and related topics.

Computer science

MATLAB: A Practical Introduction to Programming and Problem Solving – by Attaway || Since computer science is an integral part of biology research, it is important to have at least some understanding of programming and modeling. For those who are not already familiar with programming, Attaway’s MATLAB book provides an excellent entry point. It instructs on how to use MATLAB in a clear and concise way and also discusses essential mathematics that come up in scientific computing. Another strength of this text is its clean organization, which allows one to jump around the different sections more easily as required by one’s explorations in MATLAB coding. MATLAB is one of the most user-friendly programming languages and so it is great for beginners. Though MATLAB is not as grounded in the fundamentals of computational logic as some languages, it is quite useful as a tool for many scientific computing applications such as modeling, image processing, and data analysis. It should be noted that MATLAB itself is not free, though if you are affiliated with a university, the school will probably pay for your license.

Python Programming: An Introduction to Computer Science – by Zelle || This text provides another excellent entry point into programming. Zelle acts as a well-organized reference for learning the basics of Python. It is clear and reasonably concise. By contrast to MATLAB, Python is freely available. Another benefit of Python is the wide array of user-created software packages that you can easily install into your Python infrastructure. Many of these packages provide tools that handle specific areas of computational biology such as nucleic acid sequence analysis or biologically realistic neuron simulation.

Genetics

Essentials of Genetics – by Klug, Cummings, Spencer, Palladino, Killian || A standard text which introduces the various branches of genetics. Though there is perhaps not enough focus on modern techniques for my personal taste, I do appreciate the clarity of this book’s molecular genetics sections.

Gene Cloning and DNA Analysis: An Introduction – by Brown || Excellent book which describes molecular genetics techniques. It is concise and clear and yet still covers a lot of important methods in sufficient detail to convey real understanding.

Immunology

Cellular and Molecular Immunology – by Abbas, Lichtman, Pillai || Explains immunological principles in a through yet digestible way. It features very consistent diagrams which carefully represent specific molecules and cell types with the same images throughout the book.

Basic Immunology: Functions and Disorders of the Immune System – by Abbas, Lichtman, Pillai || This text is essentially a more concise version of Cellular and Molecular Immunology. Since it is written by the same authors, it also features its sister text’s helpfully consistent diagrams.

Mathematics

Fundamentals of Differential Equations and Boundary Value Problems – by Nagle, Saff, and Snider || Differential equations are vitally important for modeling and simulation in biology, so if you want to go into any kind of biotechnology-related field, you should learn about this branch of mathematics. This text covers differential equations in a clear manner, provides lots of good exercises, and focuses on application rather than theory.

Linear Algebra: Step by Step – by Kuldeep Singh || Linear algebra is another area of mathematics which is vitally important for modeling and simulation in biology and bioengineering fields. This book goes over linear algebra in a clear fashion, has some illustrations to aid intuitive understanding, includes many good exercises, and emphasizes application rather than theory.

Microbiology

Brock Biology of Microorganisms – by Madigan, Bender, Buckley, Sattley, Stahl || For those who want to explore infectious disease and/or synthetic biology, it can be valuable to get acquainted with microbiology. This authoritative text is friendly to beginners in biology and has strong illustrations.

Molecular and Cellular Biology of Viruses – by Lostroh || This is a good book for virology in general. It has very pretty illustrations which are quite helpful to the reader. I do think that the book meanders too much in its explanations. The organization of the book as a whole seems a little haphazard as well. Nonetheless, this text can serve as a good reference if you want to read up on a specific type of virus and are looking for intuitive comprehension of its mechanisms.

Molecular biology

Molecular Biology of the Cell – by Alberts, Johnson, Lewis, Raff, Roberts, Walter || A comprehensive and yet approachable book on molecular biology. It has numerous excellent illustrations, a crucial feature in any molecular biology text. It thoroughly covers a large array of important topics. There are even supplemental digital chapters on further topics in molecular biology for interested readers.

Essential Cell Biology – by Alberts, Hopkin, Johnson, Morgan, Raff, Roberts, Walter || Though this book is somewhat less detailed and thorough than the Molecular Biology of the Cell, it provides a more concise introduction to cell biology, while still covering enough detail to grant a good understanding of the subject. It also has great illustrations.

Neuroscience

Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain – by Bear, Connors, Paradiso || This book talks about a wide range of topics in neurobiology, so it is useful for introducing neuroscience as a broad field of study. I found the chapters on sensory neuroscience to be especially strong. In my admittedly biased opinion, the book neglects computational neuroscience and modern neuroscientific techniques. If you are coming from a highly mathematical background and/or wanting to go into a mathematically-focused field of neuroscience, you might want to supplement this text with some computational neuroscience books (see the intermediate and advanced sections of this page).

Organic chemistry

Organic Chemistry as a Second Language: First Semester Topics – by Klein || Klein’s short books on organic chemistry are amazing at helping the reader to understand the core principles of the subject. The first semester topics text is especially good for explaining the principles governing structure and mechanisms in organic chemistry.

Organic Chemistry as a Second Language: Second Semester Topics – by Klein || The second installment in Klein’s short texts on organic chemistry is similarly fantastic for gaining intuitive understanding. It goes into more depth on why certain reaction mechanisms happen as well as covering spectroscopy topics.

Organic Chemistry – by Klein || Klein’s full-length textbook provides further detail on organic chemistry while still emphasizing skills and principles rather than memorization.

Physiology

Principles of Anatomy and Physiology – by Tortora and Derrickson || Very long book, but wonderfully illustrated, clearly explained, and highly informative. I really appreciate how this text discusses molecular biology and biochemistry in the context of human physiology. It includes a wealth of fascinating details on how physiology works from the molecular level on up to the whole body. I especially enjoyed the chapter on endocrinology. For those who are medically inclined, there is also a lot of detail on the anatomical terminology (but this can easily be skimmed if you are not planning on going into medicine). Finally, there are numerous boxes which discuss specific diseases and other clinical subjects of special interest.

Plant biology

Raven Biology of Plants – by Evert and Eichhorn || An authoritative text on plant biology. Though I never got into this book much, I have heard great reviews from others. It covers a wide range of topics in botany and offers clear explanations as well as very nice illustrations and photographs. It spends a lot of time reviewing content from other areas of biology, which can be good or bad depending on your level of background.

Upper intermediate:

Books which cover more specialized topics in various subfields of biology or cover broader fields of biology in more depth. In contrast to the previous texts, these books tend to go into more detail and assume that the reader has more background. They are often employed in upper-level undergraduate elective courses. It should be noted that the degree of background required for my “lower intermediate” and “upper intermediate” categories is a matter of opinion. People may find certain texts more challenging or less challenging depending on their background and learning style. That said, I think that these categories can still serve as a rough guide for those seeking to expand their knowledge of the biological sciences.

Biochemistry

Introduction to Proteins: Structure, Function, and Motion – by Kessel and Ben-Tal || Discusses protein biochemistry and biophysics. This text does not go into great mathematical detail (it only includes relatively simple equations), but it does discuss the conceptual underpinnings of biophysical phenomena in a lot of detail. As an example, it contains some excellent biophysical explanations of why protein folding is such a challenging computational problem. The book also provides a wealth of information about how proteins operate in the larger cellular and physiological contexts. The illustrations are only moderately attractive, but still helpful from a practical perspective.

Biochemistry – by Voet and Voet || Though I have not personally used this book much, I have heard it is an excellent text from a number of sources, so I wanted to include it here. Voet’s textbook is known for going into a lot of detail, so it should serve you well if you are looking for a comprehensive discussion of general biochemistry. It also has very good illustrations.

An Introduction to Medicinal Chemistry – by Patrick || Beautiful book on drug design, drug development, and how drugs interact with the body. This textbook is really great because it clearly explains the fundamental principles of medicinal chemistry in a highly generalizable fashion. Its writing and diagrams really help the reader to understand the “why” underlying pharmacology. The text is also quite concise, direct, and practical in its presentation.

Developmental biology

Developmental Biology – by Gilbert and Barresi || This book contains impressive details on the development of various organisms. It has beautiful diagrams and describes complicated signaling pathways in an engaging and meaningful manner. When I read Gilbert’s text, I get excited about how the process of organismal development follows a gorgeously complex extrapolation of fundamental chemical logic.

Imaging

Fluorescence Microscopy: From Principles to Biological Applications – edited by Ulrich Kubitscheck || An excellent introduction to the engineering principles of fluorescence microscopy. This book provides background on optical physics, explains the physical mechanisms behind key types of modern fluorescence microscopy systems (e.g. confocal microscopy, light-sheet microscopy, etc.), and discusses how fluorescence itself works and is applied. While the text does not shy away from using the necessary mathematical tools to properly explain the subject, it is clear enough that even readers with relatively light backgrounds in physics should find it reasonably understandable.

Introduction to Medical Imaging: Physics, Engineering and Clinical Applications – by Barrie Smith and Webb || Clear and well-organized introduction to the main modalities of medical imaging. This text explains physical principles behind the operation of technologies such as magnetic resonance imaging, x-ray computed tomography, ultrasound, and more. It also discusses some important concepts in computational image processing. While mathematics certainly plays a key role in this book, it is overall fairly light on quantitative aspects. Depending on your goals, this can be advantageous or a drawback. The illustrations are helpful from a practical perspective, though not especially lush.

Microbiology

Bacterial Pathogenesis: A Molecular Approach – by Wilson, Winkler, Ho || Really nice book on the molecular mechanisms of bacterial pathogenesis. This book has a fair amount of detail on the subject but explains clearly. I own the 3^rd edition rather than the more recent 4^th edition, but I have had a chance to look through the 4^th edition. It should be noted that the 4^th edition has major updates including beautiful full-color illustrations which greatly enhance its explanatory power. The 3^rd edition already had quite helpful diagrams, but the 4^th edition appears to have taken this to a new level entirely.

Virology: Principles and Applications – by Carter and Saunders || This virology text is less comprehensive than many other virology books, but it makes up for this in that it explains viruses in a highly concise and pragmatic manner. The sections on bacteriophages and HIV are especially strong. For the reader who seeks to gain clear and direct understanding of the key molecular mechanisms used by viruses, this text is excellent.

Principles of Virology – by Flint, Racaniello, Rall, Skalka, Enquist || This book comes in two volumes. The first emphasizes molecular biology of viruses and the second emphasizes the pathogenesis and control of viruses. The diagrams are quite consistent, beautiful, and helpful. The text explains clearly and covers a lot of valuable topics. As a result of its thoroughness, this book may seem somewhat overwhelming, but it still is excellent as a reference and as a general source of virology knowledge.

Molecular biology and genetics

Molecular Biology of the Gene – by Watson, Baker, Bell, Gann, Levine, Losick || Classic text which discusses molecular genetics at a somewhat higher level than a typical introductory molecular biology book. Great illustrations and clear explanations aid the reader’s understanding of the intricate molecular machines which tirelessly carry out the myriad of tasks necessary to run the genome and transcriptome. The book is fairly long, but if you already know some molecular biology, you can certainly jump around to learn more details about specific areas of interest.

Molecular Genetics of Bacteria – by Snyder, Peters, Henkin, Champness || Similar to Watson’s text (above), but specifically covering bacterial molecular genetics rather than molecular genetics in general. In the 4^th edition, the illustrations convey strong understanding of molecular mechanisms, though they are not as sumptuous as the diagrams in some biology books. In the 5^th edition, the illustrations are both sumptuous and convey strong understanding of molecular mechanisms. There is a lot of great material here which can be especially useful for biohackers (and other researchers) who want to use the bacterial cell as a chassis for synthetic biology.

Neuroscience

Cognition, Brain, and Consciousness: Introduction to Cognitive Neuroscience – by Baars and Gage || Discusses cognitive neuroscience from both neuropsychological and neurophysiological perspectives. This text goes over a lot of psychological experiments for those who are interested in behavioral neuroscience, but also discusses mechanisms for those who want to focus more on the underlying ways that the brain operates. In my opinion, the largest drawback of this book is that it is weak on cellular neurophysiology.

Fundamentals of Computational Neuroscience – by Trappenberg || An excellent introduction to computational neuroscience for someone coming into the area from a less quantitatively-focused background. You will still need to know calculus and maybe a small amount of differential equations, but the book is less mathematically intense than most other computational neuroscience texts. Furthermore, the book explains key ideas from areas of mathematics such as linear algebra and probability so that the reader does not necessarily have to already know these subjects. It is fairly concise yet still clearly explains a wide variety of topics from the field.

Physical chemistry

Molecular Driving Forces: Statistical Thermodynamics in Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Nanoscience – by Dill and Bromberg || This book features elegant explanations of how statistical thermodynamics and molecular physics apply to biology and nanotechnology. In my opinion, one of its strengths is its excellent organization. The text also features very clean formatting which makes it a smoother read. Though this text is mathematics-focused, it reviews key concepts in probability and multivariable calculus for readers who have less quantitative backgrounds. There are some great chapters on foundational topics (e.g. entropy, the Boltzmann distribution, electrostatics, etc.) as well as numerous chapters on exciting applications such as polymer physics, biochemical machines and nanomachines, and cooperative binding.

Physiology

The Biology of Cancer – by Weinberg || This book provides an amazing introduction to the molecular biology, genetics, biochemistry, and treatment of cancer. Lots of great content on tumor pathogenesis from perspectives of cell signaling, DNA repair and recombination, tissue microenvironment, immunobiological aspects, virology, and more. The book features a wealth of breathtaking diagrams and histological photographs which are colorful, detailed, and highly informative. Though some of the book goes through a lot of basic molecular biology review, readers who feel comfortable with that material can easily skip to more advanced sections.

Advanced:

Books that cover specialized topics in depth and books that involve somewhat complicated mathematics are listed here. These texts typically assume that you have a fair amount of background. They are usually employed at the senior undergraduate level or at the graduate level (but please do not let this discourage you from trying them out regardless). Note that a few of these might be called monographs rather than textbooks. Because of the breadth of the biological sciences, there are many thousands of possible titles to include in this section, so please realize that these texts represent a small sampling.

Biochemistry

Protein Actions: Principles and Modeling – by Bahar, Jernigan, Dill || Excellent text on the biophysics of proteins. This book goes through a lot of challenging content on physical chemistry and computational modeling, yet it is presented in a very understandable way. Full color illustrations, clearly organized equations, and elegant explanations contribute to its pedagogical strength.

Genetics

Epigenetics – by Allis, Caparros, Jenuwein, Reinberg || Very detailed but also very rewarding, this book goes over epigenetics in a series of engaging chapters written by expert authors. Despite having different authors for different chapters, the book uses consistent illustrations throughout. The illustrations are also of high quality and are in full color, which helps to motivate the reader and aids understanding. This text covers the epigenetics of a series of model organisms as well as a myriad of key topics in mammalian epigenetic research.

Mobile DNA III – edited by Craig, Chandler, Gellert, Lambowitz, Rice, Sandmeyer || Very long and highly technical, this monograph delves deep into research on topics such as transposons, recombination, and programmed DNA rearrangements. Despite its technical character, this book still includes a myriad of helpful (and colorful) diagrams and usually has good explanations. I especially enjoyed the chapter on integrons.

Imaging

Fundamentals of Biomedical Optics || A good text on microscopy and other forms of imaging as well as the underlying optical physics involved in the engineering of imaging systems. The book is well-organized, engagingly illustrated, detailed, and emphasizes generalizable principles. Many parts of this text can be a struggle for a reader without a strong physics background, but this makes sense given the subject matter and level of depth.

Nanotechnology

Bioconjugate Techniques – by Hermanson || A great reference text for those interested in nanobiotechnology, drug delivery, contrast agents, and other areas involving bioconjugates. This book is filled with beautiful diagrams which aid understanding. The explanations are a less concise than would be ideal, though they are still effective. The text also provides lots of clear laboratory protocols for interested researchers.

The Nature of the Mechanical Bond: From Molecules to Machines – by Bruns and Stoddart || Beautiful and comprehensive text on supramolecular chemistry, an area which is highly relevant to bioengineering disciplines. It focuses on the synthesis and dynamics of supramolecular structures which perform desired mechanical actions. The book is somewhat long due to its high level of detail and coverage, but it is gorgeously illustrated and well-written. There is a fair amount of historical content included throughout and the first chapter discusses some connections between supramolecular chemistry and art. I would recommend having a strong understanding of your chemical thermodynamics, chemical kinetics, organic chemistry, and perhaps even some organometallic chemistry when reading this book. While this kind of background knowledge is not absolutely necessary, it can certainly help to get more out of the text.

Neuroscience

Dendrites – edited by Stuart, Spruston, Häusser || Beautiful text which goes through the biology of dendrites in a series of engaging chapters by expert authors. Exceptionally well-made diagrams (with full color also) help the reader to understand concepts and useful tables facilitate referencing of detailed information. One drawback of the book is that it is lacking in concision, though this is partly due to the need to discuss ambiguity in content at the frontiers of dendrite research.

Handbook of Brain Microcircuits – edited by Shepherd and Grillner || This book provides a series of short reviews on the mechanistic workings of neuronal microcircuits in both vertebrate and invertebrate systems. Though brief, each chapter packs in a lot of interesting information. As with many of the texts I have chosen for this list, the text features many full color diagrams to aid the reader. If you want to see a myriad of examples of the precise mechanisms which produce cognition and behavior, this book is excellent. Of course, the book is far from comprehensive; there are many papers which examine other neural circuits and there remains a vast universe of neural circuits still waiting to be uncovered.

Neuronal Dynamics: From single neurons to networks and models of cognition – by Gerstner, Kistler, Naud, Paninski || An elegantly-written computational neuroscience book which has been made freely available by the authors online. Lots of mathematical modeling is discussed in this text, but it explains the mathematics clearly and does not muddle understanding through unnecessary digressions. Note that this book focuses much more on the mathematical models than on actual coding (depending on your goals, you may find this beneficial or detrimental). This textbook is great for facilitating deeper understanding of computational neuroscience.

Fundamentals of Brain Network Analysis – by Fornito, Zalesky, Bullmore || An excellent text on using graph theory in neuroscience. It is beautifully illustrated, well-organized, and clearly explained. The mathematical tools of graph theory and complex networks are made accessible to those coming from a biological background. My only complaint about this book is that it is somewhat lacking in conciseness. My personal view is that it would have been possible to explain the subject more concisely without losing out on the depth and other beneficial qualities. Nonetheless, the book can be very rewarding (and enjoyable).

cover images are from Amazon.com

banner image is from ThailandTatler.com

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Company	Category	Description and Key Facts
Ablynx	Services	Nanobodies as therapeutics and as laboratory reagents.
Aera Therapeutics	Biomed	Developing protein nanoparticle delivery vehicles (originally the “selective endogenous encapsidation for cellular delivery” or SEND platform) for gene therapy which are based on proteins from endogenous virus-like particles encoded by the human genome. Also developing proprietary gene editing proteins of compact size to overcome packaging limits. Co-founded by Feng Zhang. Raised $193M in a February 2023 funding round.
AgeX Therapeutics	Biomed	Treating aging using stem cell therapies, induced tissue regeneration, related methods.
Aldevron	Services	Provides manufacturing and development services such as large-scale plasmid DNA synthesis, mRNA production, gene editing production, and antibody manufacturing. In 2025, worked with Integrated DNA Technologies to manufacture a personalized (N of 1) gene editing therapy for an infant with (otherwise untreatable) urea cycle disorder consisting of a lipid nanoparticle, custom gRNA, and an mRNA encoding a base editor. Manufacturing took 6 months, three times faster than the standard timeline. As of May 2025, the treatment was successful.
Allonnia	Ecotech	Engineering microorganisms and enzymes to degrade environmental pollutants. Funded by the Ferment Consortium of Ginkgo Bioworks.
Alora	Ecotech	Engineering salt-tolerant rice via CRISPR for ocean agriculture to feed the world. Formerly known as Agrisea. Early stage: raised a $1.4M seed round as of September 2022.
Altos Labs	Biomed	Developing cellular rejuvenation technologies to reverse age-related diseases and aging. Has raised over $3B from funders such as Jeff Bezos, Yuri Milner, and others (the most funding of any biotechnology company as of June 2024). Steve Horvath is one of the principal investigators working at Altos Labs. Main scientific advisor is Nobel Laureate Shinya Yamanaka.
Apertura Therapeutics	Biomed	Has developed TfR1-binding AAV capsids which efficiently cross the blood-brain-barrier while avoiding excessive liver transduction. Based on research published in Science by Huang et al. wherein mice expressing humanized TfR1 were used. Has engineered CD59-binding AAV which can cross the blood-brain-barrier, target brain tissue, and target muscle tissue. Founded by Ben Deverman, director of vector engineering at the Broad Institute. Leveraging cutting-edge machine learning tools to engineer AAV capsids simultaneously optimized for immune evasion, manufacturability, and tissue targeting. Collaborating with Dr. Sonia Vallabh at the Broad Institute to support her efforts to cure the prion disease fatal familial insomnia (which she herself will probably develop due to family genetics). Announced licensing deal with the Rett Syndrome Research Trust (RSRT) towards developing AAV-based treatments for Rett syndrome. Announced licensing deals with Galibra Neuroscience (for treating GABA-imbalance disorders) and Emugen Therapeutics (for treating neurodegenerative disorders) in August 2025. Launched with a $67M series A during 2022.
Aptah Biosciences	Biomed	Developing a rationally designed single-stranded DNA (lead compound APT20TTMG) that crosses the blood-brain-barrier, restores cellular RNA integrity, and corrects multiple proteins to facilitate brain rejuvenation and combat aging. APT20TTMG binds to pre-mRNA and facilitates proper U1 snRNP assembly to globally decrease cleavage of pre-mRNAs, decrease abnormal RNA splicing, decrease expression of inappropriately truncated proteins, and restore functionality of regulatory miRNAs. George Church and Aubrey de Grey are on the scientific advisory board.
Arena Bioworks	Biomed	Ended its operations as of November 2025 and is now defunct. Not a company but a biomedical research institute that employs principal investigators to lead basic research into the mechanisms of human disease, to develop therapies, and then to create spinoff companies that can translate those therapies to the clinic. Emphasizes translation by providing its investigators with the support and infrastructure to do so. Relies solely on private funding, thus its investigators do not need to apply for grants and can focus on the research. CRISPR pioneer Keith Joung is one of the first principal investigators at Arena. Co-founder and CEO is Stuart Schreiber, who also co-founded the Broad Institute. Launched with $500M in private funding. Located in Cambridge near MIT and Harvard.
Asimov	Biotech	Developing computer aided design tools for synthetic biology, making host cell lines for viral vector and biologics manufacturing, constructing genetic parts database. One of the co-founders is Christopher Voigt. James Collins is on the scientific advisory board.
Atomic AI	Bio-AI	Has developed AI tools for RNA 3D structure prediction as well as wet lab assays for evaluation. Their large language model ATOM-1 uses chemical mapping data to improve RNA optimization, predicting structural and functional properties of RNAs. Their foundational RNA structural prediction technology was published in Science during 2021. Leveraging their tools to develop therapeutic RNA-targeted small molecules and RNA-based medicines such as mRNA vaccines, siRNAs, and circular RNAs.
Aukera	Biomed	Developing protein vault delivery vectors for delivery of peptides, small molecules, and possibly nucleic acids. Their vault formulation is reportedly stable for years at room temperature.
Beam Therapeutics	Biomed	Developing base editor technologies towards therapeutic applications. David Liu and Feng Zhang are among the co-founders.
Bexorg	Neurotech	Has developed instrumentation for maintaining the cellular functions (but not the consciousness) of whole human brains from deceased donors. Their machinery perfuses the brains with an artificial blood-like substance and continuously measures substances going into and out of the brains. This allows automatic adjustment of oxygen and nutrient levels as well as measurement of the responses of the brains to potential therapies. To prevent consciousness, the brains are kept in a low-energy state where the neurons do not exhibit electrical activity. As an additional measure of caution, anesthetics are included in the perfusate. They collect -omics data from experiments on the brains, using these data to create a map of how the brains respond to potential therapeutics over time. Their data are fed into AI software to create predictive models for how therapies interact with human brains. Aims to improve success rates in CNS clinical trials through their data and models of human brain responses. Spun out from Nenad Sestan’s laboratory at Yale University. Has raised $42.5M as of October 2025.
BigHat Biosciences	Bio-AI	Has developed a high-speed closed-loop pipeline (known as Milliner) for antibody discovery, development, and optimization which leverages wet lab automation, advanced machine learning techniques, and synthetic biology. Milliner starts with preexisting antibodies, phage display, or generative AI to discover initial hits. It then rapidly produces antibodies and comprehensively characterizes them to obtain training data, before updating them with AI models that optimize the design. This cycle repeats in a loop until high-quality antibodies with desired characteristics are created. Also develops AI-optimized VHHs, camelids, BiTEs, scFvs, and fusions of different antibody-related components. In 2022, made strategic partnerships with Merck and Amgen as well as acquired a cell-free protein synthesis company called Frugi Biotechnology. Has several preclinical therapeutic programs in development (one of which is at IND-enabling stage) as of September 2025. Has raised over $100M in total as of September 2025.
Bioasis	Biomed	Has developed a peptide called xB³ that facilitates transcytosis across the blood-brain barrier. Working towards applications in glioblastomas, brain metastases, and neurodegenerative diseases.
Biogen	Biomed	Large pharmaceutical company focusing on developing treatments for neurological diseases. Has made moves towards developing gene therapy pipelines for treating neurological diseases, though the company has experienced some setbacks in this space (i.e. failed clinical trials).
BioMarin Pharmaceutical	Biomed	Enzyme replacement therapies for rare diseases. During April 2021, announced a collaboration with the Allen Institute to develop AAV gene therapies for rare diseases of the brain.
Bionaut Labs	Biomed	Microrobotics as a new paradigm for drug delivery.
BioViva	Biomed	Developing gene therapies to treat aging, offers tests for determining biological age. Elizabeth Parrish (the company’s CEO) tested an experimental gene therapy on herself and reports positive results, though she did not intend for this information to go public. George Church and Aubrey de Grey are on the scientific advisory board. Anders Sandberg is the company’s ethics advisor.
Blackrock Neurotech	Neurotech	Owns commercial rights to the Utah Array, one of the best known and most widely used neural electrode array technologies. The Utah Array was first implanted in humans during 2004 and has been used in clinical studies since then. Licenses the Utah Array to academics, companies, and clinicians. Developing brain-computer interfaces for control of prosthetic limbs, control of computer functions, writing text via computer, and restoration of senses (touch, vision, and hearing). Sells devices for human studies, non-human primate research, and rodent research. Has restored sensory or motor function to over 40 human patients through their studies. Their devices have remained functioning in patients for a total of 30,000+ days (adding up how long in each patient). In 2021, received FDA Breakthrough Device Designation for their MoveAgain medical device, which facilitates control of cursors and keyboards, mobile devices, wheelchairs and prosthetic devices. During 2024, received a large infusion of funding in the form of $200M worth of cryptocurrency cash (before that, they had only taken on about $10M in funding despite their longevity as a company). Is not at all affiliated with the well-known finance company Blackrock investments.
Calico Life Sciences	Biomed	A subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. (Google) which focuses on studying and treating aging. Partnered with Abbvie to develop drugs for age-related diseases. Has also established partnerships with the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and with the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, has published numerous peer-reviewed papers on the biology of aging.
Capsida Biotherapeutics	Biomed	Developing targeted AAV gene therapies for a variety of brain diseases. Has made blood-brain barrier crossing AAVs that are liver untargeted and brain targeted. Founded by Viviana Gradinaru.
Capsigen	Biomed	Engineering superior AAV gene therapy vectors through a proprietary method called Transcription-Dependent Directed Evolution (TRADE^TM). Have developed greatly improved neurotrophic AAVs. Entered into a partnership with Biogen during May of 2021 to develop AAV gene therapies that treat various brain and neuromuscular disorders.
Caribou Biosciences	Biomed	Developing allogenic CAR-T and CAR-NK therapies using a Cas12a chRDNA (CRISPR hybrid RNA-DNA) genome-editing technology which enables multiplex gene edits, higher specificity, and less off-target editing. As of June 2023, has two CAR-T therapies for hematologic diseases in phase I clinical trials as well as a portfolio of other therapies at earlier stages of development. Jennifer Doudna is a co-founder and is on the scientific advisory board. As of June 2023, has raised $167.7M in funding.
Cathedral Therapeutics	Biomed	Encapsulating AAVs inside of protein vaults as a way of shielding from preexisting anti-AAV immunity found in up to 60% of patients, a platform technology to increase access to gene therapy and improve the efficacy of genetic treatments. My company, which I co-founded with David Curiel. Acquired by a stealth biotech in April 2024.
CATALOG	Biotech	Building a DNA-based platform for massive digital data storage and computation.
Celero Systems	Biomed	Developing ingestible pills which can diagnose, monitor, and treat diseases by sending data to external devices (e.g. cell phones). Their HEALTH-Dx^TM pill can monitor respiratory and cardiac rhythms to diagnose sleep apnea. Their RESCUE-Rx^TM pill can automatically administer rescue medication in the case of an opioid overdose. Robert Langer is an advisor and one of the co-founders.
Cirsium Biosciences	Biomanufacturing	Developing a platform for manufacturing clinical-grade AAVs at higher yields which uses plants. They deliver plant-specific helper plasmids into producer plants using a vector (possibly A. tumefaciens), produce the AAVs inside the plant tissues, and purify the AAVs. Have demonstrated 70% reduction in manufacturing lead times compared to traditional methods. Produces up to 1015 vg/kg AAVs and is highly scalable, lowering costs compared to traditional methods. Safer than traditional methods since they leverage plants designed for resistance to contamination with human pathogens. Received (up to) $61M in ARPA-H funding as of October 2024.
Coastal Carbon	Ecotech	Aggregating massive amounts of satellite imagery data as well as non-intrusive underwater sensors to train foundation models and measure seaweed biomass, facilitating access to blue carbon for seaweed farmers. This strategy could accelerate the development of seaweed farming towards carbon capture. As of September 2023, raised $1.6M to develop the non-intrusive underwater sensors that can capture data to enhance the accuracy of their models.
Code Biotherapeutics	Biomed	Has developed 3DNA, a multivalent DNA nanostructure (not DNA origami) which both carries therapeutic transgenes and can be linked to antibodies or peptides to facilitate cell-targeted delivery of said transgenes. Focusing on Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy while also in very early stages of exploring lung, pancreas, and liver diseases. Has raised $85M as of June 2023.
Cognito Therapeutics	Neurotech	Developing a noninvasive wearable visual and audio stimulation device to evoke gamma waves in the brain, slowing cognitive decline of Alzheimer’s patients. Based on studies from Ed Boyden’s and Li-Huei Tsai’s labs at MIT. Co-founded by Ed Boyden and Li-Huei Tsai. As of September 2024, has completed a phase II clinical trial and demonstrated up to 77% reduction in cognitive decline over a period of 6 months with patients using the device.
Cognigenics	Biomed	Developing inhalable AAVs to deliver CRISPR gene therapy for treating anxiety, depression, and mental impairment. Has demonstrated successes in mouse models for treating anxiety as of June 2023. Plans to start clinical trials in 2024 and claims that they may bring the product to market as early as 2025. Leveraging contract research organizations (CROs) and contract manufacturing organizations (CMOs) to accelerate their research and development. First raised initial funding in 2020 for early preclinical work from early angel investors and then received $950K during 2022 from Fifth Set Ventures and Lionheart Ventures for further preclinical studies and beyond.
Constellation Bio	Biomed	Developing molecularly precise probiotics that actually work. First target is to develop precision medicine probiotics for lowering cholesterol. Pre-seed stage as of October 2025, funded by angel investors. As of October 2025, the company is collecting fecal samples along with some data about cardiovascular health from volunteers as part of their R&D. Leveraging observational human research to bypass much of the red tape often associated with early-stage therapeutic products. Founded by Stephen Skolnick, who announced the company in a Substack post.
Colossal	Ecotech	Centered on moonshot projects that are using advanced CRISPR methods to bring back the Wooly Mammoth, the Thylacine (Tazmanian Tiger), and other extinct animals. Aims to reintroduce lost biodiversity and thus repair ecosystems. Will develop biomedical technologies such as artificial wombs in conjunction with its de-extinction research, providing additional benefits to humanity and acting as a way to bring in funding. Cofounded by George Church, Ben Lamm, and Andrew Busey. As of January 2025, received a $200M series C funding round (for a total of $435M funds raised) at a $10.2B valuation.
Composite Programmable Therapeutics	Biomed	Has developed DNA origami shells to multivalently capture viruses and trigger their clearance by the immune system. Co-founded by Hendrik Dietz. As of June 2023, also planning to develop new gene therapy vectors based on DNA origami as well as a biomanufacturing platform for producing large quantities of ssDNA. Has raised $29M as of September 2024.
Concerto Biosciences	Biotech	Has developed a high-throughput assay device (kChip) which displays millions of microbial communities with different combinations of microorganisms. Across these microbial communities, pathogen suppression, metabolite production or degradation, robustness to environment, and other metrics are tracked. Data from kChip assays are used to train kAI to predict microbial behavior in different community contexts, which allows identification of combinations of microorganisms that work together to achieve useful functions. They are leveraging kChip and kAI to develop multistrain probiotics for dermatology applications including treatment of vaginal yeast infections, general skin health, and treatment of atopic dermatitis. As of this writing (October 2025), a phase 1b clinical trial has been completed for the probiotic formulation aimed at treating atopic dermatitis. Has raised $25.5M as of October 2025.
Convergent Research	Services	Not a company but a nonprofit organization which incubates, finds philanthropic donors for, and supports Focused Research Organizations (FROs). For more information on FROs, see this open access article in Nature. Adam Marblestone is CEO and a co-founder.
Cortical Labs	Neurotech	Developing hybrid bioelectronic devices which incorporate cultured biological neurons to perform computational tasks. These devices are power efficient, scalable, robust to physical damage, and have the potential for fluid adaptation to many different computational problems.
Cradle	Neurotech	Aiming to develop reversible whole-body cryopreservation for humans. They have so far shown that electrophysiological activity can be restored in a cryopreserved and rewarmed slice of rat cerebellar tissue. Has raised $48M as of June 2024. Laura Deming and Hunter Davis are the co-founders.
Creative Biolabs	Services	Custom services for antibody engineering, membrane protein production and characterization, bioconjugation, gene therapy development, viral vector engineering, cell therapy development, molecular dynamics simulations, drug development consulting, and more.
Cultivarium	Biotech	Developing molecular techniques, hardware platforms, and software tools to accelerate adoption of non-model microorganisms for biotechnology. Cultivarium is a focused research organization (FRO), so it possesses a distinct funding approach and different goals compared to traditional startups. For more information, see this open access article describing FROs in Nature.
Dalan Animal Health	Ecotech	Has developed the world’s first bee vaccine (made using inactivated bacteria), which protects hives against American Foulbrood disease, a devastating infection caused by the bacterium Paenibacillus larvae that spreads rapidly and leaves persistent spores. Sells their vaccine for beekeepers to mix with queen candy or in the form of vaccinated queens. American Foulbrood disease harms ecosystems and costs the U.S. food industry over $400M in lost revenue. Antibiotics used to control American Foulbrood disease can lead to resistance and can negatively affect the health of the bees; the vaccine does not lead to antibiotic resistance or harm the bees. Also developing a number of other vaccines for various honeybee infectious diseases (e.g. a vaccine against deformed wing virus is in clinical development as of December 2024) as well as one for diseases in shrimp. Raised about $10M in total funding as of June 2023.
Deep	Ecotech	Developing modular undersea habitats that scientists will live inside of for extended periods of time during marine research missions. Also offers advanced manufacturing services for customers seeking large metal parts. Funded with £100M+ by a mysterious anonymous donor (as of September 2025). UK-based company.
DoriVac	Biomed	Developing DNA origami cancer vaccines which facilitate cross presentation of antigens and are also applicable to infectious diseases. Raised $100K by winning the 2022 Alnylam BioVenture Challenge. Early stage as of June 2023. Their technology was developed by William Shih and Yang Zeng at the Wyss Institute.
Dyno Therapeutics	Biomed	Using deep learning to improve properties of AAV capsids as a platform technology for gene therapy. George Church is one of the co-founders.
E11 Bio	Neurotech	Building moonshot technologies involving superior molecular barcoding, spatial -omics, and viral circuit tracing to help neuroscientists map the brain. Has a long-term goal of mapping brains at the one-hundred billion neuron scale. E11 Bio is a focused research organization (FRO), so it possesses a distinct funding approach and different goals compared to traditional startups. For more information, see this open access article describing FROs in Nature.
Editas Medicine	Biomed	CRISPR-based gene therapy. George Church, David Liu, Jennifer Doudna, Feng Zhang, and J. Keith Joung are the co-founders.
eGenesis	Biomed	Developing safer xenotransplants by using multiplexed CRISPR gene editing to inactivate all of the porcine endogenous retroviruses and to address the numerous mechanisms of immune-mediated rejection. Working on gene edited porcine kidneys, livers, and hearts for xenotransplantation. George Church is a co-founder. Has raised a total of $481M in funding as of September 2024.
Eikon Therapeutics	Biomed	Superior drug discovery platform which leverages high-throughput automated super-resolution microscopy for tracking single protein movements in living cells. Eric Betzig is one of the advisors.
Emerald Cloud Lab	Services	Remote automated laboratory as a service for researchers. Has a large array of automated equipment for synthetic biology and genetic engineering, physical and biophysical chemistry, structural biology, biochemistry, analytical chemistry, etc. Provides a software interface for users to instruct the automated equipment.
Entos	Biomed	Developing lipid nanoparticles with transmembrane fusogenic proteins to facilitate delivery of DNA, RNA, and CRISPR cargos. Neutral lipid formulation (not ionizable) gives lower toxicity while the fusogenic proteins facilitate delivery efficacy. As of June 2024, Entos is involved in oncology therapeutics, antivirals, gene editing therapies, immunotherapies, DNA vaccines, and senolytics. Has partnered with Oisin Biotechnologies (see later in this list) to develop a new senolytic therapy.
Eve Bio	Biomed	Mapping the “pharmome” with the goal of identifying all of the off-target effects of clinically approved small-molecule drugs. Leveraging high-throughput screening assays with 2,000 FDA-approved drugs on reporter cells, measuring the effects on up to 1,000 gene products per drug. Many of their assays use reporter cell lines engineered to emit a quantifiable optical signal when a test drug stimulates a specific gene product (a different cell line for each gene product). Releasing their data and assay designs to the public to support pharmacological safety profiling, drug repurposing, biomedical AI training, polypharmacology (finding drugs that act at multiple targets), chemical toxicology profiling, and future automated laboratory processes. Eve Bio is a focused research organization (FRO), so it possesses a distinct funding approach and different goals compared to traditional startups. For more information, see this open access article describing FROs in Nature.
EvolutionaryScale	Bio-AI	Has developed an open-source AI frontier model for biology (called ESM3) which can create a wide variety of proteins with desired functions through natural language prompting. ESM3 can create new proteins that diverge greatly from naturally occurring proteins including a variant of GFP with only 58% sequence similarity to the closest known naturally occurring type of GFP (calculated as the equivalent of simulating 500 million years of evolution). Has plans to develop plastic-degrading and carbon capture proteins using their models. An enormous amount of compute was used to train ESM3, it has 98 billion parameters, and it can be fine tuned by experimental results in a fashion analogous to RLHF (reinforcement learning with human feedback). ESM3 can reason across protein sequence, structure, and function, making it extremely generalizable. Even more compute resources and data for training could create new models with even greater generative capabilities and new models that operate across biological scales from individual molecules to whole cells. Patrick Hsu is one of their investors and is listed as an author on the ESM3 paper in the journal Science. Led by CEO Alexander Rives, former head of Meta’s AI protein team. Raised a seed round of $142M as of June 2024.
Evox Therapeutics	Biomed	Developing exosomes loaded with AAV as a delivery system for gene therapy, shielding AAVs from immune factors and targeting them to specific tissues. Also exploring other exosome cargos such as RNAs, CRISPR-Cas proteins, and therapeutic proteins. Preclinical stage as of June 2023.
Fauna Bio	Biomed	Has developed a platform called Convergence^TM AI which uses data from the Zoonomia Consortium, including genome alignments and protein-coding alignments of hundreds of mammalian species. Convergence^TM AI identifies protective genomic signatures in disease-resilient mammals such as hibernators (e.g. 13-lined ground squirrels) and maps these results to human cell models so that validation experiments can be performed. It also predicts compounds which can mimic the protective genomic phenotypes upon application to human cells. Working on preclinical development of drugs for cardiopulmonary and retinal indications as of October 2025. In January 2020, announced a collaboration with Novo Nordisk to discover new treatments for obesity. In December 2023, announced a partnership with Eli Lilly for preclinical drug discovery in obesity. This partnership renders Fauna Bio eligible to receive up to $494 million in preclinical, clinical, and commercial milestone payments as well as royalties on potential product sales. In addition to past funding, has raised a $40M series A as of March 2025.
Fieldstone Bio	Ecotech	Developing microbial biosensors which synthesize hyperspectral reporter molecules through engineered metabolism in response to desired signals on the ground (e.g. contaminants in soil). The hyperspectral reporters can be imaged from above using flying drones equipped with special cameras, enabling rapid surveying of chemical properties across large amounts of land. Applying AI software to automate analysis of images taken by drones. Application areas include contaminant detection, agriculture, national security, and mining. Their foundational technology is based on published research by Chemla and Levin et al. from Christopher Voigt’s laboratory at MIT.
Forest Neurotech	Neurotech	Developing a minimally invasive ultrasonic brain-computer interface implant that can access any part of the brain to understand and treat a wide range of neurological disorders. Will employ both ultrasonic neuroimaging and neuromodulation using Ultrasound-on-Chip technology from their partner Butterfly Network. Sumner Norman is CEO and a co-founder. Launched in 2023 with $14M in philanthropic funding from Convergent Research, has since raised additional funding. Has signed $20M contract to pay Butterfly Network for facilitating partnership and licensing of the Ultrasound-on-Chip technology. Forest Neurotech is a focused research organization (FRO), so it possesses a distinct funding approach and different goals compared to traditional startups. For more information, see this open access article describing FROs in Nature.
Form Bio	Services	Developing AI-powered computational services for characterization and prediction of the properties of engineered AAVs (e.g. simulation and analysis of bioreactor setups for AAV production, prediction of mRNA expression, immunotoxicity prediction, generative in silico AAV candidate optimization) as well as for analyzing data from AAV production. Spun off by another startup company (see earlier in this list) called Colossal. Some of its advisors include George Church, Christopher Mason, and Peter Diamandis.
Frontier Bio	Biotech	Has developed tissue engineered systems including Blood Vessel Mimics (already in use for medical device testing, a neurovascular-unit-on-a-chip for studying the blood-brain-barrier in health and disease, and vascularized organoids for aiding drug development and disease modeling. Has raised $1.1M from investors and an SBIR grant as of July 2023.
Future House	Bio-AI	Not a company but a research nonprofit organization funded through philanthropist Eric Schmidt, also seeking other funding. They plan to spend $20M ramping up during 2024. Has a 10-year mission to create “AI scientists”, semiautonomous AI systems that may dramatically accelerate the pace of biological research through not only laboratory automation, but also through cognitive automation of literature research, protocol writing, generating hypotheses, discerning patterns in data, etc. Founder and CEO is Sam Rodriques, a principal investigator at the Crick Institute.
Gameto	Biomed	Developing women’s reproductive health technologies, starting with Fertilo. Fertilo consists of lines of ovarian support cells that secrete hormones to mature eggs in a dish, replacing hormonal injections and shortening the IVF process from 14 days to 3 days. Eggs can be frozen or fertilized after Fertilo is used. Raised $73M in total funding as of December 2024. In December 2024, announced birth of first human baby who came from eggs matured using the Fertilo technology.
GATTAquant	Services	DNA origami imaging probes, fluorescence microscopy reagents. First commercial application of DNA origami.
Generate Biomedicines	Bio-AI	Generative artificial intelligence to create novel de novo protein therapeutics with desired protein-protein interactions, enhanced enzymatic activities, and invisibility to the immune system. Frances Arnold is on the board of directors. Has raised $420M as of July 2023.
Generation Bio	Biomed	Developing gene therapies for rare and prevalent genetic diseases using close-ended DNA and cell-targeted lipid nanoparticle platform using a scalable enzymatic synthesis strategy to produce the DNA in large quantities. Preclinical stage as of June 2023. Has raised over $536M as of June 2023. Established a strategic partnership with Moderna in March 2023.
Gensaic	Biomed	Developing M13 phage-derived particles displaying targeting molecules as a novel gene therapy vector, utilizing a high-throughput directed evolution platform to improve these phage-derived particles. Redosable since M13 phages are a part of the human virome. Tissue targets for their phage-derived particles include liver, lung, and central nervous system. As of June 2023, has raised $3.5M (grant from Cystic Fibrosis Foundation).
GenScript	Services	Services in artificial DNA synthesis, synthetic biology, antibodies, cell therapies, enzyme engineering, etc.
Ginkgo Bioworks	Services	Synthetic biology, biomanufacturing, microorganism design, enzyme engineering, etc. Acquired Gen9 in 2017.
Grove Biopharma	Biomed	Has developed proteomimetic peptide brush polymers (“bionic biologics” as they call the molecules) which act as therapeutics targeting protein-protein interactions. Their peptide brush polymers are designed to penetrate cell membranes and thus can work on intracellular targets. Their peptide brush polymers have longer half lives in vivo than traditional peptides. Has demonstrated the utility of peptide brush polymers against several different cancer and neurodegenerative disease targets in preclinical models. Raised a $30M series A as of April 2025.
HelixNano	Biomed	Developing an mRNA-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccine which might protect from all possible variants of the virus. Pivoted from original plan of developing cancer vaccines using the same technology. Co-founded by Hannu Rajaniemi, who is also a successful science fiction author. George Church is an advisor.
Humble Bee Bio	Ecotech	Identified a species of solitary bee which produces bioplastic to protect their nests and has leveraged the genetic blueprint from this bee to develop an environmentally friendly alternative to traditional plastics.
ImmuneAge Bio	Biomed	Developing ways of regenerating hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) to treat the aging immune system and thus prevent ailments like cancer, brain aging, infections, and cardiovascular disease. Has developed a way of expanding numbers of human HSCs 1000-fold, which allows them to run high-throughput combinatorial drug screening assays for in vivo and ex vivo HSC rejuvenation. As of January 2025, working on an orally available small molecule (IA-101) which acts on mitophagy and mitochondrial biogenesis and has top indications of vaccine response, preventing respiratory infections, and mitigating post-chemotherapy immunosenescence.
Immunai	Bio-AI	Combining multi-omic single cell profiling technologies and machine learning to comprehensively map the immune system and thereby enable greatly improved immunotherapies as well as accelerate clinical trials and avoid costly failures.
Impossible Foods	Ecotech	Uses synthetic biology and biochemical engineering to develop plant-based substitutes for meat products. Their signature product is the Impossible Burger. They also make a product which mimics sausages. One notable strategy employed by Impossible Foods is production of leghemoglobin in yeast. This compound gives a meaty flavor when added to their food products. They also add other plant-based compounds to mimic the fats found in animal meat.
Imprint	Biotech	Developing experimental and computational tools to decode immunological memory in B and T cells with the aim of uncovering the causes of chronic diseases such as autoimmune conditions, long COVID, psychiatric disorders, and dementias. Hopes to pave the way for new treatments and diagnostics by uncovering the mechanisms of chronic diseases. Imprint a focused research organization (FRO), so it possesses a distinct funding approach and different goals compared to traditional startups. For more information, see this open access article describing FROs in Nature.
Inait	Bio-AI	Aiming to develop AGI by building on work from the Blue Brain Project and Human Brain Project. Founded by Henry Markram, the pioneer behind the European Union’s (somewhat controversial) Blue Brain Project and Human Brain Project. Combines biomimetic spiking neural net (SNN) AI architectures, a brain-like learning rule discovered during Henry Markram’s studies on SNNs, and contemporary AI technologies like LLMs, CNNs, and GNNs. Goal is to use biomimetic approaches to overcome limitations found in traditional advanced AI systems, Working on architectures which possess sensory-like systems to learn from complex digital environments and to adapt and function intelligently within said environments. Has partnered with Microsoft as of March 2025. Has raised $300M according to its website.
Insilico Medicine	Bio-AI	Leveraging artificial intelligence to facilitate every step of pharmaceutical development. Has developed software to discover and prioritize novel drug targets, generate novel molecules, and design and predict clinical trials. Alex Zhavoronkov is CEO, Executive Director, and Chairman of the Board. One of the company’s lead pharmaceuticals (TNIK) represents the first AI-designed drug to reach phase II clinical trials. Has raised over $400M in funding as of June 2024.
Intellia Therapeutics	Biomed	Developing therapies which employ CRISPR gene editing technology. Has conducted some successful clinical trials using CRISPR gene therapy to treat transthyretin amyloidosis (as of February 2022, this is not yet FDA approved though). Also working on CRISPR therapeutics for engineering T cells towards targeting acute myeloid leukemia. Partnered with Regeneron, Novartis, and others. Jennifer Doudna was one of the co-founders.
Kernel	Neurotech	Neurotechnology, noninvasive brain-computer interfaces, invasive neural prostheses. Some noninvasive products anticipated to be released during 2021. Founded by Bryan Johnson who personally invested $54M. Raised an additional $53M from outside investors. Early goal is to help treat brain disease, has ambitions to enable human enhancement.
Landmark Bio	Services	Provides services for clients in cell and gene therapy development including therapeutic discovery research, process development, analytical development, quality control, GMP manufacturing, and consulting. Emerged from a public-private partnership founded by MIT, Harvard, FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies, Cytiva, and Alexandria Real Estate Equities. Their mission is to accelerate biomanufacturing of cell and gene therapies as well as to serve as a forum for biomanufacturing workforce development in Massachusetts and beyond.
Laronde	Biomed	Developing therapies which utilize circular RNAs (Laronde calls these “endless RNAs”) as expression vehicles for proteins. Such circular RNAs are much more stable and less immunogenic than linear RNAs.
Ligandal	Biomed	Peptide nanoparticles for targeted CRISPR-Cas gene therapy delivery, immunotherapy, hematological gene therapy, aging treatments. Founded by Andre Watson.
Living Carbon	Ecotech	Developing genetically modified plants (including trees) with enhanced growth, carbon capture efficiency, and bioremediation properties. Has raised over $36M and has planted over 170,000 genetically modified trees as of August 2023.
Loyal	Biomed	Developing anti-aging therapeutics for dogs including LOY-001, LOY-002, and LOY-003. LOY-001 and LOY-002 corrects for the overexpression of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) and growth hormone (GH) found post-maturity in large dogs, they are expected to be available in 2027. LOY-002 corrects metabolic dysfunction in senior dogs, is expected to be available in 2025. As of December 2024, working on a clinical trial for LOY-002 with over 1000 senior dogs enrolled across the USA. Founder and CEO is Celine Halioua. Has raised over $125M total funding as of March 2024. Loyal’s research may pave the way for human anti-aging therapies in the future.
LyGenesis	Biomed	Allogenic cell therapy that uses host lymph nodes as bioreactors to grow ectopic replacement organs. Has developed a method for generating ectopic livers via patient lymph nodes that is in early clinical trials as of September 2022.
Mammoth Biosciences	Biomed	CRISPR-based diagnostics. Jennifer Doudna is one of the co-founders.
ManifoldBio	Bio-AI	System for barcoding protein therapeutics to enable high-throughput design and testing in complex environments, machine learning to optimize drug design. George Church is one of the co-founders.
Marblis	Ecotech	Sustainable biomaterials company with flagship product Marblis Urchinite^TM, a marble-like material made from purple sea urchins, a highly overpopulated species off the coast of California which has taken over due to rising ocean temperatures and loss of predators. Marblis Urchinite^TMcan be used as a building material for countertops, wall coverings, furniture, decor, flooring, etc. Partners with marine conservation organizations, researches ways to alleviate plastic pollution, to restore kelp ecosystems, and to leverage market-driven solutions as well as runs educational initiatives on sustainable ocean innovation. Has a biomaterials laboratory called Primitives which offers custom biomaterials R&D services and has already developed Marblis Urchinite^TM as well as seaweed-based biosensors and compostable packaging materials.
Markov Biosciences	Bio-AI	Developing deep learning tools that learn the dynamics of cellular systems by taking in a vast amount of data from genomics, transcriptomics, and more. Leveraging cutting-edge mechanistic interpretability tools to find mechanistic insights from their AI-derived simulations of cellular processes. Their mechanistic interpretability system is implemented by probing the simulations with questions in natural language, facilitating actionable insights from in silico experiments.
Medtronic	Biomed	World’s largest medical device company by revenue as of 2024 rankings, employs over 90,000 people. An American-Irish company with legal and executive headquarters in Ireland and operational headquarters in Minnesota. Operates primarily in the USA, but has some level of operation in over 150 countries. Has developed wearable and implantable pacemakers, the implantable cardioverter defibrillator, the world’s smallest pacemaker, and the world’s smallest spinal cord stimulator, an automated insulin pump, implantable drug delivery systems, and more.
Microdrop Technologies	Services	Sells instruments that can rapidly and accurately dispense liquid droplets in amounts as small as 20 picoliters using piezo-driven inkjet printing technology, also sells accurate nanoliter to microliter dispensing systems as well as instruments to automate the dispensing systems.
Micro-X	Biomed	Small, light, and fast proprietary x-ray imaging technology based on novel electronically controlled carbon nanotube emitters. Products are applied in portable medical imaging and in security. There are over 380 of their medical x-ray devices used across 35 countries. Their medical x-ray products have been used extensively in the field on Ukraine’s frontlines in the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war.
Moderna	Biomed	Biomedical technologies which utilize mRNA inside of lipid nanoparticles; application areas include drug discovery, drug development, and vaccines. Major player in COVID-19 pandemic since it was one of the first companies which developed and distributed SARS-CoV-2 vaccines to the world.
Motif Neurotech	Neurotech	Developing a small device implanted in skull bone which can perform transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to treat depression and other mental health disorders, users wear a baseball cap with coils to activate the device. Unlike traditional TMS, this device does not require numerous visits to a clinic with access to bulky equipment, vastly improving accessibility. Has raised $100K as of June 2023. Jacob Robinson from Rice University is co-founder.
Nanite Bio	Bio-AI	Employing a high-throughput AI platform to predict properties of polymers and to design nanomaterials which serve as efficacious gene delivery vehicles, synthesizes and tests in vitro thousands of distinct polymer nanoparticles over a few days, uses multiplexed in vivo screening to test many polymer nanoparticles at once in animal models. Has raised $8M in funding as of June 2023.
Nautilus Biotechnology	Services	Developing a high-throughput single-molecule proteomics platform which integrates many novel techniques to decipher protein networks and thereby help accelerate basic science, new therapeutics, and new diagnostics.
Neurable	Neurotech	Developing a non-invasive brain-computer interface based on headphones that use electroencephalography to record brain signals, allowing people to control devices like phones with their minds. As of September 2022, the company appears fairly far along in its product development process and is likely to release their headphones within a year or so.
Neuralink	Neurotech	High-bandwidth brain-machine interfaces, surgical robots which implant the interfaces in a manner resembling a sewing machine. Early goal is to help treat brain disease, has ambitions to enable human enhancement. Founded by Elon Musk and others, highly publicized by Elon Musk. Has done testing on rats, pigs, monkeys, and other animals as of April 2021.
NewLimit	Biomed	Extending human longevity through epigenetic reprogramming, starting with restoring youthful function in the liver and the immune system. Has raised $40M as of May 2023. Co-founded by Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong.
Nonfiction Laboratories	Biomed	Has developed magnetically responsive proteins via designs that leverage quantum mechanisms. They have published high-profile research papers through their collaborator laboratories. Developing magnetically responsive antibodies “MagBodies” for which remote magnetic modulation of binding affinity is possible. Additionally working on magnetically responsive CAR-T designs, cytokines, and more. CEO Richard Fuisz was previously founder of Templa Nucleics and a founding member of Arcadia Science and FutureHouse. Co-founded by Richard Fuisz (CEO) and Maria Del Mar Ingaramo (CSO).
Nudge	Neurotech	Developing whole-brain focused ultrasound devices which achieve millimeter precision. Has already developed a helmet-like phased array device which can be used along with an MRI machine, allowing visualization of the effects of the ultrasound. Also has developed an MRI-based acoustic radiation force imaging technique to visualize the ultrasound focus in the brain. Has developed powerful simulation and imaging algorithm software to provide control over their device’s interactions with the brain. Running studies on patients with essential tremor, tinnitus, substance use disorders, and chronic pain (though as of September 2025, these studies are aimed at device feasibility rather than treatment). Will run studies on healthy volunteers in the future to study ways that ultrasound can influence the brain. Announced a $100M series A led by Thrive Capital and Greenoaks in July 2025.
Nvelop Therapeutics	Biomed	Developing delivery vehicles for tissue-specific targeting and gene editing; based on lentivirus-like particles with fused gene editing proteins instead of DNA inside of the envelope (as seen in publications from David Liu’s academic laboratory). Co-founded by David Liu and Keith Joung. Launched with $100M of funding as of April 2024.
Oisin Biotechnologies	Biomed	Developing senolytics which target senescent cells by triggering apoptosis only when certain genes are expressed. Has received investment from the SENS Research Foundation, the Methuselah Foundation, and the Methuselah Fund.
Olden Labs	Services	Developing technologies to automate mouse research, has released their first product: DOME cages, which use AI on 24/7 video of housed mice to track the movement of multiple mice with 99% accuracy over long time periods. DOME cages also automatically feed mice, calculate numerous behavioral metrics (e.g. total distance traveled, sleep time, average acceleration, food and water intake, number of aggressions, etc.), evaluate behavior-based health metrics, provide automated emergency alerts when problems arise, and are compatible with existing rack systems. Michael Florea is CEO and one of the co-founders.
Openwater	Neurotech	Portable medical imaging technologies which employ novel optoelectronics, lasers, and holographic systems. Wearable imaging technologies which could be 1,000x cheaper than MRI and achieve similar or better results. Has speculated that their technology might eventually allow telepathic communication. Founded by Mary Lou Jepsen.
Orchid Health	Biomed	Performs whole-genome sequencing on embryos to screen for neurodevelopmental disorders, birth defects, and chromosomal abnormalities as well as for genetic predispositions to cancers and ailments of the brain, heart, and more. Helps patients ensure that their children have a healthy future and gives them the option to not move forward with the pregnancy if the embryo may lead to an unhealthy person.
Organovo	Biomed	3D tissue bioprinting for in vivo clinical applications, in vitro tissue models for disease modeling and toxicology. Long-term goal is to print entire human organs for transplants.
Oviva Therapeutics	Biomed	Therapies for ovarian aging to aiming extend women’s healthspan and longevity. Developing a treatment to improve ovarian longevity that uses recombinant Anti-Müllerian Hormone (AMH), a first-in-class therapeutic which may delay menopause and thus exert beneficial effects on health. Daisy Robinton is a co-founder and the CEO. Raised a $11.5M seed round in May 2022.
Oxford Nanopore Technologies	Biotech	Portable nanopore sequencing devices, high-throughput desktop nanopore sequencing devices, sample preparation kits. The company states that they have the first and only nanopore DNA and RNA sequencing platform as of May 2021.
Oxgene	Biomanufacturing	Provides AAV manufacturing kits and services leveraging tetracycline enabled self-silencing adenovirus (TESSA^TM) technology to greatly enhance yields. The TESSA technique increases AAV yields by around 40-fold relative to traditional methods, increases overall infectivity of the virus particles, and is well-suited to GMP-quality production. Provides self-inactivating (SIN) lentiviral plasmids for lentivirus production with optimized safety and translation efficiency; this can increase viral yields by up to 10-fold compared to traditional methods. Provides stable lentiviral packaging and producer cell lines (based on HEK293) which facilitate consistent production of high-titer lentivirus after transfection of a viral genomic plasmid carrying a gene of interest or after stable integration of a gene of interest respectively. The lentiviral packaging and producer cell lines can be grown without animal serum in the media.
Oxitec	Ecotech	Genetically modified male insects which curb the reproduction of populations of their species in the wild, acting as a precise and environmentally friendly way of controlling dangerous pests that spread disease or destroy crops. After years of battles with activists and regulatory bodies, the company will release 750 million genetically modified mosquitos in the Florida Keys (the first time this has been done in the U.S.) with the goal of reducing rates of illnesses such as yellow fever and dengue.
Panacea Longevity	Biomed	Enhancing longevity and health using a fasting-mimetic metabolite supplementation. Early stage as of May 2021.
Panluminate	Services	Offers expansion microscopy (ExM) as a service as well as related tissue labeling (e.g. Unclearing, chromatin labels for ExM, etc.) and imaging services, can expand tissues up to 25x using their pan-ExM technology. CEO Ons M’Saad developed pan-ExM and some of Panluminate’s related technologies while working in Joerg Bewersdorf’s laboratory at Yale.
Paradromics	Neurotech	Developing surgically implanted brain-computer interface called Connexus which uses hairlike intracortical electrodes to record from 1684 channels, aims to restore communication abilities to people with severe motor impairments (e.g. amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). Interface is scalable to possibly add even more channels for future applications. Has raised a total of $88.7M as of December 2024.
Pioneer Labs	Ecotech	Not a startup company but a nonprofit research organization with a startup-like approach. Developing engineered microorganisms that may be able to grow on Mars with the future goal of terraforming, combining various types of extremophiles that individually have some of the abilities necessary for survival on Mars. Shorter term goal of green manufacturing in resource-constrained environments. CEO is Erika DeBenedictis, formerly a principal investigator at the Crick Institute. Funded by the Astera Institute as well as supported by another nonprofit founded by Erika DeBenedictis called Align to Innovate.
Precision Neuroscience	Neurotech	Developing a thin-film microelectrode array (called the “Layer 7 Cortical Interface”) which conforms to the surface of the brain and collects high-resolution data from 1024 microelectrodes. Layer 7 Cortical interface can be implanted with minimally invasive and reversible surgery, facilitates recording and stimulation, and is designed to allow paralyzed people to control computers with their thoughts. Aiming to treat conditions such as spinal cord injury, stroke, ALS, and traumatic brain injury Started clinical trials in 2023 and has (as of April 2025) tested the device in 37 patients, for which it was implanted temporarily to aid in situations like surgical removal of brain tumors. One of the co-founders is Benjamin Rapoport, who previously was part of the founding team at Neuralink. Has raised $155M as of December 2024, including series A, B, and C rounds.
Prime Medicine	Biomed	Developing CRISPR Prime editing technology as a novel therapeutic modality. David Liu and Andrew Anzalone are co-founders.
Profluent Bio	Bio-AI	AI platform for designing de novo proteins such as enzymes, gene editors, antibodies, and more. Has released the first freely available AI-generated gene editor called OpenCRISPR-1, which has similar structure to Cas proteins, yet its sequence differs by over 400 mutations compared to Cas9 and over 200 mutations compared to any known Cas protein. Has raised a total of $44M in funding as of March 2024.
Proteinea	Ecotech	Mass-produced insect larvae as an affordable way of manufacturing recombinant proteins. Early stage as of May 2021.
ReCode Therapeutics	Biomed	Has developed selective organ targeting (SORT) lipid nanoparticles, which include the four components of traditional lipid nanoparticles plus a fifth biochemically distinct lipid to facilitate bypassing of the liver and targeting of other organs such as lung and spleen. As of July 2023, has reached early-stage clinical trials for treating primary ciliary dyskinesia with inhalable SORT lipid nanoparticles that carry mRNA, is just starting early-stage clinical trials for treating cystic fibrosis with inhalable SORT lipid nanoparticles that carry mRNA, and has begun discovery-stage work on several other treatments. Has raised a total of $422M as of July 2023. Co-founded by Daniel Siegwart, a professor at the University of Texas.
Recursion Pharmaceuticals	Bio-AI	High-throughput platform for drug discovery which leverages AI and multimodal automated screening tools to achieve a cycle of homing in on useful drug molecules, narrowing the search space recursively. Has found some molecules which are now in clinical trials as of June 2023.
Rejuvenate Bio	Biomed	Developing anti-aging gene therapy using liver-directed AAVs encoding FGF21, a protein facilitates global regulation of a network of genes and helps reverse multiple conditions such as age-related obesity, diabetes, heart failure, and renal failure. Lead indication (desmoplakin arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy) is at IND-enabling study stage as of January 2025, also at preclinical stage for other indications. Running a clinical trial for cardioprotective gene therapy to treat dogs with mitral valve disease as of January 2025. George Church is a co-founder. Has raised over $14M in funding as of January 2025.
Renewal Bio	Biomed	Developing a method that acts as an artificial womb and facilitates ex vivo production of human embryos similar to those found in a pregnancy around day 40 to 50. Have demonstrated successful proof-of-principle for making human embryos ex vivo. Aims to use the embryos as “3D bioprinters” to make tissues and organs for transplantation. The embryos may produce immune cells that could be transplanted into an older person to rejuvenate her/his immune system and facilitate longevity. The embryos may produce gonad tissues that could be transplanted into women to restore fertility and improve health. Strictly not aiming to create embryos that could develop further due to ethical issues. Likely will be able to genetically engineer the embryos to prevent formation of a head, mitigating ethical concerns. Based in Israel. Has published several high-profile scientific papers (two in Nature and one in Cell).
Repair Biotechnologies	Biomed	Developing a cholesterol degrading platform therapy which can reverse atherosclerosis. The CEO, who is known as Reason, is outspoken about the need to combat aging. Has preclinical proof-of-concept as of May 2021.
Resilience	Biomanufacturing	New manufacturing platforms to service partners for development and scaling of gene therapies, cell therapies, vaccines, protein therapies, and more. Received $800M in funding during 2020.
Retro Biosciences	Biomed	Longevity company with the goal of adding 10 years to the healthy human lifespan. Developing treatments for aging in the areas of hematopoietic stem cell reprogramming, autophagy enhancement, microglia therapeutics, tissue reprogramming, and T cell reprogramming. Sam Altman invested $180M into Retro Biosciences in 2023.
Ring Therapeutics	Biomed	Developing anellovirus as a minimally toxic and redosable alternative to existing gene therapy viral vectors. Anellovirus is a commensal human virus. Employing a platform called Anelloscope for screening of anellovirus sequences from human tissue, this then leads into to design of improved anellovirus variants.
Sanmai	Neurotech	Developing transcranial focused ultrasound devices (noninvasive) for neuromodulation to treat mental illnesses. Has published a pilot study (2023) showing that 60% of people with treatment-resistant anxiety experienced a statistically significant reduction in their feelings of anxiety. Has published a pilot study (2020) showing that 70% of people with treatment-resistant depression experienced a statistically significant improvement in certain forms of mood. As of 2025, in the process of performing a clinical trial with Acacia Mental Health clinic to determine if multiple sessions extend anxiety reduction effect. Raised a $12M series A in June 2025 from Reid Hoffman (LinkedIn co-founder and wealthy individual).
Sarepta Therapeutics	Biomed	A large medical biotechnology company with 4 FDA-approved therapies and 40 investigational therapies under-development (as of September 2025). Their FDA-approved therapies include three antisense oligonucleotides (made with phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomer backbones) as well as the AAV gene therapy Elevidys, all medicines for treating Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The investigational therapies are aimed at treating Duchenne muscular dystrophy, limb-girdle muscular dystrophies, Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, and some CNS-related disorders. The cost of Elevidys is $3.2M per patient (one-time treatment). Elevidys has endured significant public controversy due to several patient deaths (acute liver failure) in 2025, which led to a hold on the therapy as requested by the FDA. The hold on Elevidys was lifted by the FDA in July 2025, but concerns remain. Additionally, the European Medicines Agency has recommended against marketing Elevidys in the European Union.
Science	Neurotech	Developing a device-therapy combination to restore sight in people who have lost photoreceptors but retain retinal ganglion cells. Leveraging optogenetic gene therapy to give retinal ganglion cells the ability to respond to light as well as an implantable device that fits over the retina and stimulates the modified retinal ganglion cells with appropriate wavelengths to reproduce vision. Has an in-house foundry which can provide custom electronics fabrication as a service to interested parties. Also developing a new type of brain-computer interface which uses an external device containing living neurons that interface with the brain tissue, are activated via optogenetic stimulation in the external device, and are recorded by electrodes in the external device.
Sherlock Biosciences	Biomed	CRISPR-based diagnostics. Feng Zhang is one of the co-founders.
Siren Biotechnology	Biomed	Developing AAVs encoding cytokines to induce the immune system to attack solid tumors. Planning a first clinical program which will use cytokine-encoding AAVs to treat gliomas via local delivery, taking advantage of the brain’s immune-privileged status to avoid anti-AAV immunity. A low dose of AAVs is injected directly into tumors, expresses cytokines which kill the cancer cells as well as attract the innate immune system (e.g. macrophages, natural killer cells) to further eradicate the cancer. Nicole Paulk (formerly a UCSF professor) is the CEO, founder, and president. Has raised $25.6M as of January 2025.
Somalogic	Biotech	Proteomics platform called SomaScan for protein biomarker discovery which aids researchers in the development of new diagnostics. SomaScan is an aptamer-based platform which can simultaneously measure 7,000 protein biomarkers. Founded by Larry Gold, who is the inventor of SELEX.
SpiNNcloud	Bio-AI	Developing neuromorphic supercomputers so that AI can take advantage of biologically-inspired hardware architectures. Has built SpiNNaker and SpiNNaker2 high-performance computing clusters using their neuromorphic chips; these systems are highly scalable and energy efficient. The original SpiNNaker system was developed as part of the Human Brain Project; both systems are well-suited to running biologically realistic neuroscience simulations in real time.
SpyBiotech	Biomed	Developing a vaccine against human cytomegalovirus using virus-like particles equipped with their SpyTag-SpyCatcher molecular glue technology. As of June 2024, is in the process of a phase I clinical trial for their vaccine against human cytomegalovirus. Has licensed the SpyTag-SpyCatcher technology to a variety of research groups working on vaccines for cancer, chronic diseases, viral diseases, bacterial diseases, parasite diseases, and veterinary diseases. Mark Howarth, who originally developed the SpyTag-SpyCatcher technology in his academic lab, is a co-founder.
Strateos	Services	Offers R&D services through remotely controlled automated laboratories. Has extensive automated equipment for research in drug discovery, synthetic biology, imaging, cell and gene therapy, etc.
Synchron	Neurotech	Endovascular brain-computer interfaces as a minimally invasive approach for neural prosthetics, neuromodulation, and neurodiagnostics. Has developed the strentrode, an endovascular electrode array that can record or stimulate neurons from within blood vessels. As of September 2022, a technology called brain.io (that employs stentrodes) is in early clinical trials and gives paralyzed patients the ability to control digital devices.
Synthego	Services	CRISPR genome engineering services, custom cell lines, custom screening libraries, CRISPR reagents and kits, aiding both academic researchers and clinical drug developers.
Systemic Bio	Biotech	Develops vascularized organ models in hydrogels as tools for accelerating and improving preclinical drug testing.
Syzygy Plasmonics	Ecotech	Developing a photocatalytic reactor system which leverages a nanoparticle-based plasmonic photocatalyst. The photocatalyst consists of a larger light-harvesting plasmonic nanoparticle decorated with smaller catalytic nanoparticles. Their first product will be a clean hydrogen fuel production system which does not rely on petroleum. More of a chemical engineering company than a biotechnology company, but their technology may eventually have applications in biology.
Tahoe Therapeutics	Bio-AI	Developing AI virtual cell models to help find drugs for treating cancer. Working with data from perturbative interactions between single cells and drugs as well as data from drug-patient interactions. Has built an open-source foundation model (Tahoe-100M) which was trained using 100M single cell data points and 60,000 drug-patient interactions. Working on larger models to continue towards the goal of finding clinical leads to translate. Has raised a $30M series A (as of August 2025) to build a model mapping between 1B single-cell datapoints and 1M drug-patient interactions.
Tektonyx Bio	Biotech	Developing new protein therapeutics using genetically recoded bacteria with expanded genetic alphabets which include noncanonical amino acids. Has several journal publications from 2015 to 2021.
Tessera Therapeutics	Biomed	Developing gene writing technology for therapeutics. Characterizing a database of over 100,000 candidate mobile genetic elements to use in their technologies; using these to develop a toolkit for single nucleotide edits, correcting pathogenic alleles, replacing whole exons, and introducing whole genes. Leveraging target primed reverse transcription (TPRT) to engineer the genome, this is done with an RNA template and a gene writer protein, these components come from retrotransposon systems. TPRT gene writers bind and nick DNA before using reverse transcription to write into the genome (no double strand breaks). Also developing DNA gene writers for stably integrating large pieces of DNA into the genome; these can be delivered with lower doses of AAVs compared to traditional gene therapies. Has developed proprietary lipid nanoparticles for delivery of template RNAs along with RNAs encoding the gene writers to the liver, hematopoietic stem cells, and T cells. Seeking to address monogenic diseases, provide genetic treatments for prevalent diseases, and develop both in vivo and ex vivo cancer treatments. Has raised over $500M in total funding as of April 2022, more recently (December 2024) completed an agreement with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to receive an additional amount of up to $50M.
Terrain Biosciences	Services	Leverages next-generation AI to design libraries of optimal RNA sequences (improved manufacturability, stability, expression quality, immunogenicity, durability, and targetability) for customers, has a rapid manufacturing pipeline to produce the RNAs. Aids customers in designing lead RNAs at early stages of development, helps via high-quality manufacturing for later (clinical) development. Co-founded by Patrick Hsu, Jonathan Gootenberg, and Omar Abudayyeh. Raised $9M in seed funding as of February 2025.
The Far Out Initiative	Biotech	Public benefit corporation developing technologies to mitigate biological suffering as inspired by philosopher David Pearce’s Hedonistic Imperative manifesto. Investigating cases of pain insensitivity where people experience very little or no pain while still having an instinctive capacity to avoid actions which may cause bodily harm; aiming to use the genetics of such people to develop a gene therapy that confers similar benefits. Working on germline engineering of farm animals and feed animals to minimize their capacity for suffering. Carefully evaluates the ethics of its proposed technologies and similar emerging technologies in order to hopefully move the world towards less suffering overall without accidentally exacerbating mistreatment of animals, etc. Early stage as of January 2025.
Tidal	Ecotech	Provides autonomous underwater robotic camera system equipped with AI computer vision technology along with environmental sensors which help fish farmers keep track of the growth, behaviors, and health of their fish and to monitor the water’s salinity, temperature, etc. The systems can furthermore facilitate real-time biomass monitoring, sea lice detection, autonomous feeding, and thus inform the decision making of fish farmers. Much of the data collected by the computer vision system occurs on timescales of milliseconds, faster than the human eye can track. Has expanded use of their technology beyond Norway to customers across the globe. Also working to leverage its systems towards ways of protecting the Earth’s oceans. Started out as a project at Alphabet’s X Moonshot Factory.
Tilibit Nanosystems	Services	Service which gives researchers predesigned and custom DNA origami nanostructures, including ones with chemical modifications. Founded by Hendrik Dietz, who was CEO from 2012-2014. He is now a scientific advisor.
Topas Therapeutics	Biomed	Developing Topas Particle Conjugates (TPCs), which consist of nanoparticles linked to immunogenic epitopes involved in selected autoimmune diseases; TPCs target liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSECs) and induce antigen-specific immune tolerance, thus treating specific autoimmune conditions. Targeting LSECs with TPCs results in antigen-specific tolerance via induction of regulatory T cells. As of January 2025, has shown positive results from a phase 2a trial for treating celiac disease. Has also advanced a treatment for the rare disease pemphigus vulgaris to phase 2 clinical trials. Has raised a total of $70M as of January 2025.
TreeCo	Ecotech	Developing CRISPR gene editing technology to create enhanced trees with improved characteristics for applications in timber, pulp and paper, and biofuels as well as for sustainability. For the sustainability applications, they are working on improved frost tolerance, drought tolerance, and disease resistance.
Turbine AI	Bio-AI	Predictive computational models of cancer cells, the “Simulated Cell^TM” platform, performing in silico experiments to test millions of drugs. Has partnered with Bayer, AstraZeneca, and others for drug development efforts.
Twist Bioscience	Biomanufacturing	Artificial DNA synthesis services. Synthetic biology towards insulin manufacturing in yeast, scalable spider silk manufacturing, combating malaria, and DNA data storage. Emily Leproust is a co-founder.
Vault Pharma	Biomed	Protein vault nanocompartments as a drug delivery platform to treat cancers and other diseases, protein vaults as a vaccine platform. Co-founded by Leonard Rome.
VectorBuilder	Services	Services in vector cloning, virus packaging, library construction, cell lines, etc.
Verve Therapeutics	Biomed	Developing CRISPR base editing therapies to turn off key genes (e.g. PCSK9 and ANGPTL3) involved in atherosclerotic plaque formation and thus to combat cardiovascular disease. The delivery mechanism involves lipid nanoparticles carrying gRNA and mRNA encoding a base editor protein. Has potential to save tens of millions of lives due to the status of heart disease as one of the most common causes of death. Early clinical trials began in July 2022.
Virica Biotech	Biomanufacturing	Helps in biomanufacturing of viral vectors through utilizing Viral Sensitizers, a library of small molecules which inhibit cellular antiviral defenses and thus increase yields of viruses from producer cells by around 5-10x. Provides custom services in aiding client biomanufacturing process development by incorporating Viral Sensitizers. Has raised $1.1M as of July 2023.
Xaira Therapeutics	Bio-AI	Leveraging machine learning data generation to develop a drug discovery platform and therapeutic products. Has received $1B of funding as of April 2024, though was recently announced and is still ramping up. David Baker is a co-founder. Led by Marc Tessier-Lavigne, former CSO of Genentech. Staff includes the scientists who developed RFdiffusion and RFantibody in David Baker’s lab.
YourChoice Therapeutics	Biomed	Developing a daily non-hormonal male birth control pill which is thus far (i) 99% effective and 100% reversible in mice and (ii) after 2 weeks decreases sperm count in primates to a level below fertility threshold as defined by NIH Contraceptive Development Program chief. Has completed a phase 1a clinical trial in human patients to evaluate safety and pharmacokinetics as reported by a 2025 publication. Their drug blocks spermatogenesis by inhibiting sperm progenitor cell division and by inhibiting release of mature sperm from the seminiferous tubules. Raised a $15M series A as of July 2022.
Zetta.ai	Neurotech	Advancing connectomics via computational reconstructions of neuronal wiring diagrams from image data. Offers a wide variety of automatic image reconstruction services to neuroscience laboratories. Created the automated AI reconstruction software behind reconstruction of the cubic millimeter of mouse cortex from MICrONS as well as reconstruction of the adult Drosophila brain from FlyWire. Working closely with BRAIN CONNECTs, a ten-year effort with the US BRAIN Initiative aiming to map a whole mouse brain.
Zymergen	Ecotech	Synthetic biology, metabolic engineering, biomanufacturing of materials and compounds as a substitute for chemical engineering practices.
4D Molecular Therapeutics	Biomed	Using high-throughput screening and recombination methods to develop novel AAV serotypes that evade immune responses and that target and transduce specific organs. Clinical trials for several new AAV vectors that treat pulmonary, cardiac, and eye diseases are ongoing as of September 2022
10x Genomics	Services	Spatial transcriptomics, genomics, proteomics, immune cell profiling, etc. Acquired ReadCoor and Cartana in 2020.
64x Bio	Biotech	High-throughput screening and computational design of new mammalian cell lines for manufacturing gene and cell therapies. George Church and Pamela Silver are among the co-founders.