Programming Life like a software: How Digital Biology Will Disrupt Everything?
“Where do I think the next amazing revolution is going to come? And this is going to be flat out one of the biggest ones ever. There’s no question that digital biology is going to be it.” -Jensen Huang, founder & CEO of NVIDIA
So when he talks about digital biology being the next massive wave of innovation. Over the past decade, biology has increasingly become an information science, with biological data growing exponentially. Our ability to read, write, and edit DNA is accelerating. Technologies like machine learning and cloud computing are unlocking new insights from mountains of biological data. The convergence of biology with fields like computer science and engineering is spawning entirely new disciplines like synthetic biology.
The Bio Revolution is Already Underway
TheBio Revolution encompasses a range of fast-moving fields such as genomics, proteomics, cell engineering, and synthetic biology. As Huang notes, it’s flat out going to be one of the biggest technological shifts we’ve ever seen. According to experts, the economic impact will be on par with or even greater than advances like electricity, computers, the Internet, and AI.
One major way biology is being digitized is through efforts to map the human genome. Back in 1990, the Human Genome Project set out to sequence all 3 billion base pairs in human DNA. It took 13 years and $3 billion to produce the first draft. Today, an entire human genome can be sequenced in just one day for about $600. As costs have plummeted, over 100 million human genomes are expected to be sequenced by 2025.
All this genomic data is enabling incredible progress in precision medicine — healthcare customized to individuals’ unique genetic makeup. But it’s also allowing us to understand diseases like never before and develop more effective diagnostics and treatments. Startups are exploring how to leverage genetic insights for personalized nutrition, fitness, skincare, and more.
Software is also revolutionizing drug discovery. For example, companies like Insitro and Exscientia are using algorithms to design molecules that could lead to promising new medicines. In 2021, Exscientia’s AI platform synthesized a clinical candidate for immuno-oncology in just 9 months — a process that normally takes 4–5 years!
But biology isn’t just becoming digital — we can now write DNA as easily as software code. Gene editing allows scientists to make precise modifications to an organism’s genetic material. The most well-known technique, CRISPR-Cas9, functions like molecular scissors to cut DNA strands so bits can be deleted, replaced, or inserted. It’s allowed researchers to rapidly engineer cells and organisms in ways that weren’t possible before.
CRISPR is already being used to help treat genetic conditions in humans by editing disease-causing mutations. But scientists are also harnessing it to create virus-resistant livestock, drought-tolerant crops, and more sustainable biofuels. The applications are incredibly diverse. Feng Zhang, one of the pioneers of CRISPR at the Broad Institute, believes we’ve only begun scratching the surface of what’s possible.
The Rise of Synthetic Biology
CRISPR is a core technology of the emerging field of synthetic biology. If the digital revolution was about manipulating electrons to process information, then we’re now starting the era of manipulating biology to fabricate and manufacture things.
Whereas bioengineering involves modifying existing organisms, synthetic biology adopts an engineering paradigm to design and construct entirely novel biological systems from the ground up. We can now digitally model biological circuits on a computer just like electronic circuits. Revolutionary advances like cheap gene synthesis and CRISPR mean we can test and tweak these models in the real world.
Companies are programming cells like microscopic factories to produce chemicals, materials, and medicines. Ginkgo Bioworks designs custom microbes to make fertilizer more sustainable, extract minerals from electronics waste, and power your next trip to Mars! Their automated “foundries” run through biological designs faster than ever before.
Workflow software and robotics are other key ingredients enabling rapid iteration. R&D cycles that once took months or years have collapsed to weeks or days. Moving from idea to execution is becoming plug-and-play. SynBio startups are using these capabilities to target major global issues:
- Bolt Threads spins fibers inspired by spidersilk that have self-repairing properties for extremely durable clothing
- Perfect Day creates animal-free dairy proteins via fermentation to make sustainable ice cream, cheese, and milk
- Impossible Foods engineered a plant-based burger that uniquely replicates the taste, aroma, and texture of ground beef by producing heme, the iron-containing molecule that makes meat sizzle
- Zymergen partners with some of the world’s largest chemical producers to replace petroleum feedstocks with bio-manufactured alternatives that are higher-quality, renewable, and far less toxic
As enabling technologies continue advancing at exponential rates, synthetic biology could redefine manufacturing across industries. By 2030, engineered organisms could provide 10–20% of chemicals, energy, food additives, and materials worldwide. The synthetic bioeconomy is projected to be worth over $1 trillion annually in the next decade.
Computing Biology
A critical catalyst taking biological design and engineering to new heights is the rise of biological computing. Computing capabilities that have driven the incredible pace of progress in fields like chip design, aerospace, and AI are now revolutionizing biology.
AlphaFold, an algorithm developed by DeepMind, recently achieved a computing breakthrough — successfully predicting 3D protein structure from amino acid sequence alone. Molecular dynamics simulations can now model protein folding and interactions with incredible accuracy. This could accelerate diagnosis and drug discovery for diseases like Alzheimer’s.
Researchers combined AlphaFold with AI models in a recent competition to design novel proteins not found in nature. 6 out of the 60 proteins entered were experimentally verified functional, hinting at future capabilities. As Jensen Huang said, “Where biology is developing the capability to design things, it’s no longer going to be just trial and error…Now we can use compute to discover.”
Cloud computing and big data analytics will also play pivotal roles in the Bio Revolution. Startups are leveraging AWS and Microsoft Azure to run huge biological datasets through machine learning pipelines and uncover novel insights. Genome editing pioneers like Beam Therapeutics is tapping cloud supercomputing resources to model millions of guide RNA designs in parallel.
Biology Finally Became a Technology Problem
This convergence with other technology sectors is key. Biology has transitioned from a descriptive science to an engineering discipline where we can apply information theory, physics, nanotechnology, automation, and computing. As Juan Enriquez presciently wrote over two decades ago in his book As the Future Catches You:
“For the first time in history, the technology frontier is no longer the physical sciences or computers,…Today the most important tools for change come from biology and information.”
What does this technological transformation in biology mean for the future? It opens up possibilities that previously lived solely in the realm of science fiction:
- Computer-designed microbes efficiently producing abundant clean energy(Yeast 2.0)
- Automated labs rapidly designing novel proteins, cells, DNA
- Intelligent synthetic organisms building next-gen electronics (Brain interfaces)
- Genetic circuits precisely detecting and treating diseases
- Biofoundries sustainably supplying materials for global supply chains
Jensen Huang believes NVIDIA GPUs will play a big role in enabling these futures by providing the processing horsepower needed to compute biology. From simulating molecular dynamics to running bioinformatics pipelines, their parallel architecture is purpose-built to tackle huge computational workloads.
Combined with exponential progress in reading, writing, and editing DNA, computing biology could catalyze a new wave of technological and economic growth. The raw potential is staggering — life itself and all its intricate molecular machinery digitized, modeled, optimized, and engineered.
Over two decades ago, Bill Joy published an article titled “Why the future doesn’t need us”, voicing concern that the power of technologies like genetics and nanotech could spiral out of control. But as Juan Enriquez argues, the solution is not to shy away from progress because it’s too dangerous.
Instead, we need to charge full speed ahead, while instituting appropriate safeguards and governance. Scientists need to engage deeply with the public so these rapidly-moving fields develop responsibly and for the benefit of humanity. Done right, the Bio Revolution could help solve major global issues around sustainability, health, energy, and more.
The Next Big Wave of Innovation
Jensen Huang believes digital biology is poised to drive the next big wave of technological and economic growth — “flat out one of the biggest ones ever”. The progress over the past decade makes it hard to disagree. Where electronics and information technology radically transformed business and society last century, biology and biotechnology will likely do the same this coming century.
Incumbents across most industries should start figuring out their data and analytics strategies, upskilling workforces, and potentially reconfiguring supply chains. The rapid pace of innovation also opens up white space opportunities for entrepreneurs and startups. Programmable biology is the new programmable chip.
We’re entering an exponential era where automation, software, and AI will allow us to design, test, build, and scale biological systems incredibly fast. As the tools of creation become democratized, the results could be spectacular and world-changing. The next big wave of innovation is coming — and it looks alive!
