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Reverse Engineering the Source Code of the BioNTech/Pfizer SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine

berthub.eu

11–20 of 62 posts

Re: Reverse Engineering the Source Code of the BioNTech/Pfizer SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine

#17
This was a compelling and inspiring read, thanks.

The way the CS and genetics concepts map with each other is really fascinating and thought-provoking.

How would a curious engineer go about learning more about this particular "computer architecture" ?

Going further, is there a realistic career path for someone with a software engineering background to retrain, pivot and meaningfully contribute to research in this area ?

By meaningful I don't just mean the obvious role of building software tools for genetics engineering & research, but actually writing those RNA bits and designing vaccines or other similar items.

Would you need to basically start from scratch as a biology or medical undergrad before working your way up to a PhD, or are there interesting jobs at the crossroads where a previous career as an engineer might be an asset ?

Re: Reverse Engineering the Source Code of the BioNTech/Pfizer SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine

#19
post #17

This was a compelling and inspiring read, thanks. The way the CS and genetics concepts map with each other is really fascinating and thought-provoking. How would a curious engineer go about learning more about this particular "computer architecture" ? Going further, is there a realistic career path for someone with a software engineering background to retrain, pivot and meaningfully contribute to research in this are…

I watched this cool youtube video by Thought Emporium where he makes custom spider silk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hf9yN-oBV4

Just seems like he reads the manufacturer's instructions!

Re: Reverse Engineering the Source Code of the BioNTech/Pfizer SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine

#20
post #7

Sounds like a new field of software engineering in the near future. And I like how the author casually mentions that there's an unexplained "linker" code in the AAA sequence that controls the number of copies to be made, with an implicit assumption that everyone's acting in a good faith. Frankly, if I noticed a strange 20 byte sequence inside the tail of zeros in an executable file, I'd instantly assume it's opcode i…

I can't say with certainty, but I learned the DNA printer makes shorter sequences that then self-assemble into the final strand. So if you have too many repeating AAA's, you can't control if there's 20 or 100 because new AAA sequences will keep latching on to the end of the strand.

So, you break it up every so often with some other nucleotides.

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