Talking DNA: Programming a New Life Language

1. Talking DNA: Programming a
New Life Language
a SXSW Interactive 2016 Submission
Featuring renowned data scientist Aaron Kimball from:

2. What is this presentation about?
We use DNA to cure diseases, pinpoint genetic disorders and create new
materials. To do this effectively, scientists must be able to design and
concisely specify collections of changes to DNA for in-lab testing. To
empower these users, what’s needed is a declarative language that allows
people to express DNA design constructs in a more human-readable way.
How much more could we do if we applied a programming language
similar to SQL to DNA? This technical presentation will take audience
members through the process of designing a flexible system that is built
by engineers, used and understood by scientists and interpreted by
machinery, ultimately opening new doors to designing DNA.

3. What will I learn?
● What lessons we can apply to DNA design from programming
languages like SQL
● Why now is the time for a new biological programming language
● What challenges this new language poses and overcomes
● How the world stands to benefit from this new programming
language
● The implications of introducing a new programming language as we
take the next steps in our work with DNA (both human and microbial)

4. At Zymergen, Aaron is responsible for building
the data architecture to facilitate a robotics-
driven approach to genome engineering. Prior to
joining Zymergen, Aaron worked at several big
data-oriented startups. He was the first
employee at Cloudera, where he helped with a
variety of big data challenges. In 2010, Aaron co-
founded WibiData, the big data application
company. Aaron has been working with the
open-source project Apache Hadoop since 2007
and authored Apache Sqoop and MRUnit. He
holds a bachelor's degree from Cornell
University and a master's degree from the
University of Washington in computer science.
Prior Speaking Appearances:
● HBaseCon
● Structure: Data
● WTIA TechNW
Aaron Kimball
CTO, Zymergen