“We're finally moving out of the realm of solely discussing biology in ...” — Ryan Bethencourt Quote

We're finally moving out of the realm of solely discussing biology in regards to a drug-based world.

We're starting to see a renaissance of investors embracing the idea that scientists can build businesses.

I believe within five to 10 years most larger corporations will switch to greener industrial enzymes, not just for the environment but also for their bottom line.

I imagine a day, some time in the not too distant future when children and teenagers will be able to create their own genetically engineered machines, cure the diseases of the old and find new ways to build and extend the capabilities of humanity, moving from programming software to programing the physical world, through biology.

I don't find biology as interesting as politics and humanism. I talk more about existential stuff.

Instead of studying what biology has already made, we have to imagine what biology could make. You can say, 'Oh, I want a cure for cancer,' but that doesn't tell you what evolutionary pathway will take you from here to there. What are the intermediate steps?

Molly wants to be a surgeon. She wants to get really good grades in her GCSEs so she's going to Ireland to do a transition year. This will give her an extra year of biology and sciences. But I don't want to be the one holding my daughter back from furthering her education. She is my first-born.

It's true that my research expertise is in biology: for example, the Ebola virus, the Marburg virus, and monkey pox, and not bacteriology as in the case of the anthrax organism. It's also true that I have never, ever worked with anthrax in my life. It's a separate field from the research I was performing at Fort Detrick.