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Comment by w1ntermute | Hacker News Reader

Let's be honest - the only place that really matters for biotech is Boston, and the movers and shakers there have no desire or need to work with YC or anyone in Silicon Valley. San Diego's biotech scene is mostly just companies mindlessly pursuing cheaper and faster sequencing.

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I'll take a pro-Boston comment on hackernews however it comes!! It is true that BOS is basically unrivaled for pharma-biotech. Biotech is moving into other markets now too though. That said, we (Ginkgo Bioworks) are mostly non-pharma but are in BOS anyway. There is an awesome pool of bioengineering talent here.

I wouldn't call that 'mindlessly', faster sequencing is going to unlock a whole slew of new offerings just like 'faster transistors' powered the computer revolution.

That's a terrible analogy, and here are two good links on why:

http://wavefunction.fieldofscience.com/2015/03/cancer-genomi...

http://thesciencenetwork.org/programs/reading-the-human-geno...

> the only place that really matters for biotech is Boston

The Washington DC area I believe disproves your hypothesis.

DC doesn't even come in the top 4 for biotech. The top 4 are probably Boston, SF, San Diego, and Seattle.

What about RTP?

If we are naming cities NYC should be included. With 8 leading medical research institutions, the second highest annual NIH funding, and a wealth of talent/capital in adjacent industries - NYC's foundation for Biotech is extremely strong.

The presence of NIH and the Federal Government apparatus alone (not to mention Johns Hopkins next door) should disprove your hypothesis.

As do facts and numbers:

http://www.fiercebiotech.com/story/top-15-cities-biotech-ven...

http://www.genengnews.com/insight-and-intelligenceand153/top...

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