
Young scientists ditch postdocs for biotech startups - adenadel
http://www.nature.com/news/young-scientists-ditch-postdocs-for-biotech-start-ups-1.20912
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swingbridge
Academia has long used post-docs as sources of cheap labor. Good for them for
finding a strong path into greener pastures in the private sector.

These things go in cycles, but right now I sense a strong desire to get out of
the mess that is often found in academic science.

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coldcode
While it makes a lot of sense for individuals, science in the end will suffer
since only potentially profitable studies will be made and basic research
abandoned. Of course that might happen anyway in today's publish or perish
climate and universities in profit seeking mode.

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rubidium
Basic science is doing fine. The issue is the glut of PhD's.

See graph here: [http://futureoflife.org/2015/11/05/90-of-all-the-
scientists-...](http://futureoflife.org/2015/11/05/90-of-all-the-scientists-
that-ever-lived-are-alive-today/)

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chasely
Agree with you. I am finishing up my PhD, and while I am glad I am not
planning on pursuing academia further, I have met many wonderful scientists
that are driven to continue furthering their science.

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throwaway98237
Do we want the fruits of scientific progress to be made publicly available and
shared by all of society (one must grant that even public universities have
already begun privatizing their work, which is sad) or for it to end up
privatized as part of patent portfolios to go to the highest bidder and to
serve those with the most capital?

I already know what the answer is if we look at the current incentives in
place, but what do we want?

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wolfgke
> Do we want the fruits of scientific progress to be made publicly available
> and shared by all of society [...] or for it to end up privatized as part of
> patent portfolios to go to the highest bidder and to serve those with the
> most capital?

Of course the former - but only as long as I can live from doing the research.
As the German writer Bertolt Brecht put it in Die Dreigroschenoper (The
Threepenny Opera): "Erst kommt das Fressen, dann kommt die Moral." ("Grub
first, then ethics.").

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throwaway98237
In a capitalist society one can receive grub for work on ethics.

We need, as a society, to decide that it's worth investing in ethics, in basic
research, etc, rather than trusting that market incentives will trickle out of
these companies.

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jhbadger
This sort of thing isn't new though, although every generation seems to forget
the experiences of the past. The first wave of biotech startups was in the
1970s -- most of them failed with the main survivor being Genentech. It's not
unlike how waves of Internet startups come and go. At times academia is the
place to be, then industry, then academia again.

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paaloaalto
Which biotech startup is the hottest around?

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themantalope
Not surprising at all, considering how insanely competitive academic biology
is today.

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eli_gottlieb
Actually, still kinda surprising given how crappy the salaries and working
conditions can be in industrial biotechnology. Someone I'm close to worked in
biotech and found that they consistently had 80-hour workweeks, were
constantly asked to work weekends and holidays, and all for just $40k/year.

