How do these synthetic biology startup valuations stack up against valuations in social media or information technology (cf HBO's SILICON VALLEY)? As a biochemist who performs computational protein design in order to achieve novel form or function in proteins, I have always been interested in new developments in the biotech startup land. However, I'm skeptical about the monetary rewards of synbio -- it appears to me that conventional chemical engineering is still much cheaper and more effective then new synbio approaches.