Jake Wintermute 🪵
@SynBio1
Followers
11,320
Following
354
Media
2,626
Statuses
8,335
Developer evangelist @ginkgo stay humble biodesigners
Cambridge, MA
Joined June 2014
Don't wanna be here?
Send us removal request.
Pinned Tweet
Stop glamorizing the hustle and start glamorizing the mussel
113
5K
45K
One wrong mutation and your beautiful daisy transforms into an eldrich horror. Stay humble biodesigners.
179
5K
16K
Somehow my reviewers always needed 3 months of convincing about the choice of Kruskal–Wallis versus Wilcoxon Rank-Sum as the test of statistical significance for supplementary figure 7j but giant AI generated rat balls just sails right though sure why not
35
643
5K
I won't tell you if I win the lottery but there will be signs
37
440
4K
When the prestige journal transfers your manuscript to a more specialized journal within the same publishing group.
10
360
2K
When the PI decides to help out in lab after being away from the bench for a few years.
29
334
2K
Europeans: sterile conditions for microbiology were maintained by performing all manipulations within a laminar flow cabinet
Americans:
22
189
2K
Lab interns take note if you add thymine instead of thiamine as a media supplement even one time your cells turn into one of these
41
94
2K
If you’re looking for a prank gift for that biologist you hate consider 96 individually wrapped pipette tips
26
131
2K
I miss the lab so much that today I put some clear liquid in a cup then poured it into another cup
9
146
998
This is why I keep telling algae to rebrand as microtrees
8
78
795
@p_maverick_b
Focused, hydrated, in my shell, filter feeding, growing my nacre, secreting my byssus, foot strong
2
66
720
If the superconductor thing pans out we biologists need to come up with something pretty dope to make sure we keep winning the nobel prize in chemistry like we always do
17
56
647
In my three months of industry experience here is what I've learned so far in meme form
13
43
598
Microbes in a bioreactor doing this 24/7 while also making your product
8
88
579
ppl who think that biomaterials will be hard to scale up should know that most things are already made of crabs
5
106
503
The tipping point was 2012. After silicon-based DNA synthesis and Crispr, the synbio toolbox became too complex for the way we work.
The future of biotech isn’t "the same labs but with more tools." It takes a new level of organization, a foundry, to use the tools effectively.
5
55
448
That good feeling when you get a manuscript out for review
12
91
444
Figure one for my review on the origins and history of synthetic biology or whatever
3
91
397
This paper on de novo luciferase design is mind blowing in in 7648 ways, but here's one part I'm watching with special interest:
How many designs do you need to test before you hit an ML-generated enzyme that works?
6
76
358
I dedicate this meme to all the microbes out there just trying to live their lives
2
58
337
ML for bio is fed all the DNA sequences of nature and makes a beautiful glowing enzyme
ML for tech is fed all the content from the internet and makes a toxic psycho chatbot
As you choose your next career moves remember that you have to live in the world you build
10
43
316
Working as a lab tech before your PhD is basically leveling up on the side missions then speed running the main quest
6
25
312
When you're trying to sequence the gene for alkaline phosphatase in 1987 and you notice 5 homologous sequences of 29 nucleotides arranged as direct repeats with 32 nucleotides as spacing
7
44
298
A lot of fake nature fans out there who haven't even read GenBank U49845.1
4
41
280
People who can unscrew Falcon tubes with one hand how does it feel to be on top of the food chain?
10
30
273
Study this meme to earn one biology course credit at meme university
2
28
266
Since nobody uses light bulbs anymore I propose we make this thing the new symbol for having an idea
9
29
265
Biotech can expect a culture shift as:
• Applications get more diverse and interesting
• Start-up costs and timelines fall
• VCs gatekeep less
• Academic postdocs continue to suck
PhDs will simply prefer to become founders and the cultural heart of bio will move to industry
7
27
251
To face the future with the confidence and grace of this crab riding a coconut into the sunset
2
64
242
You might think all the good fruit is already domesticated but in fact earth’s genetic biodiversity encodes whimsical delight at an average density of one willy wonka chocolate factory per square kilometer
14
16
244
When you publish an important result in a mouse model and science twitter is about to absolutely obliterate you but you remembered to add “in mice” to the title
3
28
240
When you ask the right question and design the perfect experiment but you still don't learn shit because nature hates us
4
28
239
People who complain about the accuracy of your nanodrop have you considered just getting good at doing DNA preps
10
11
240
Roll up in the club with 96 1.5 ml eppendorf tube aliquots
8
10
241
If your lab does DNA origami can you please make one of a tiny violin and send me the electron tomography because I need it for some memes
13
25
233
"Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution." - Theodosius Dobzhansky, Ukrainian-American
1
35
225
The beginning of the end for manual pipets was when 3d printed protein structures gave molecular biologists something else to do with their hands when photographers come to the lab
8
18
225
Bio-inspired design, also known as bio-informed design, biomimetics and biomimicry, is an approach to design that looks to nature for insight and inspiration
6
16
218
Starting a side project that probably won't take too much time or energy
4
23
221
Evolution deciding which proteins need to interact with which other proteins
5
25
214
If her personal plasmid collection fits in one freezer box she's too young for you bro
1
12
210
I have often thought of logic gates as complex and therefore rare. Maybe they are everywhere and made of everything?
9
53
209
Mentoring a student from a discipline that you were never formally trained in
1
24
200
Nobody else on x is brave enough to call this out but I am S. cerevisiae is really only popular as a lab model organism because of beer which makes it a microbial nepo baby there I said it
18
18
198
People who cut parafilm like this will kill you and everyone you’ve ever loved
13
22
189
To the people who I met at tonight’s biotech networking event with no business skills
Who didn’t tell me your name, your company, your product or your value proposition but just launched right into the science in full nerd mode
I love you and you are everything I’m fighting for
7
6
188
Scientific granting agencies allocating the budget for postdoc salaries
5
18
183
My take on the recent crispr ruling is that bio, like tech before it, is starting to iterate faster than we can litigate
Crispr advanced 3 generations without a stable IP framework. In this world, companies that focus on execution will outrun companies that wait for exclusivity
7
20
184
Journey with me to 2029, when transgenic hair follicles are a consumer biotechnology.
6
30
181
POV you are a virus that wandered into a vaccinated immune system
0
35
181
Bioproduction takes everything about NFTs and does the opposite
Real life stored as code -> Code becoming alive
Artificial scarcity -> Self-replicating abundance
Nonfungible -> Possibly fungus
Super lame -> very cool
17
33
179
This DNA helix in the sky with the incorrect left-handed isometry is the clearest sign yet that we are trapped in the mirror universe
1
16
182
Huge biotech breakthroughs coming with such regularity now.
Something is happening. Something feels different.
4
31
179
As a biologist and a visionary I once believed it impossible to look this good at 40
I’m 40 today so here are my tips for all the young people whom I assume admire my success and lifestyle
25
7
167
Hey have you heard the one about the synthetic biologist who is preparing for the apocalypse by hoarding DNA extraction kits yes you might say they are a mini prepper
8
13
161
My new startup idea is a bodega in Boston where we make it look like a lab supply and hope that scientists will spend $200 on a string cheese out of habit
9
8
163
Introducing Grove - a Discord server for synthetic biology developers
3
20
159
These photobioreactors from industrial plankton looking sexy af like god damn
12
15
159
Lycopodium spores - another weird biomaterial waiting for the right synthetic biology startup to bottle the magic
5
18
154
GenBank from 1984 as a book
GenBank from 1992 on 3½-inch floppies
GenBank from 1997 on CD-ROM
The true aficionado must own all 3
11
20
154
Crazy how many bios of tech leaders from the 60s have moments like “he got bored peeling potatoes in the army so he walked over to the stanford electrical engineering department and did a PhD instead”
What changed? Where can I learn more about the history of gatekeeping in STEM?
16
6
148
Hypothesis: the persistence of manual workflows in biotech is mainly due to people’s love of pipette pens as vendor swag (I admit they are very cool)
6
3
150
Ok so here's what has to happen:
Biology has to be easier to engineer
Biology has to be easier to understand
Admittedly I'm a little biased, but Ginkgo is legit crushing it on the first thing
Foundry Theory is the new video series I'm doing to help with the second thing
10
24
149
