I've known for a while that Perl is really common in biology, and some Googling led me to a project called BioPerl[1]. It might be worthwhile to port that library's functions into other languages that could be beneficial to scientists, or use them to build specialized compiled tools that don't necessitate writing any code.
And there are Biopython, Biohaskell etc., but from what I saw there this is more about bioinformatics (e.g., focus on gene sequencing). I don't know whether those are the problems the parent was talking about. From my experience (interviews) with labs it's more about the workflow (often pretty pre-computer) and quick&dirty software with terrible UI.
There are a lot of much more basic (far less sexy) things a basic programmer can do that don't need much power. Being able to access those Biopython/biohaskell libraries entirely from a GUI would aid so many people. If you already know how to use python/haskell/fortran, then there is far less urgency in having a good UI or even using those really basic libraries. But there are a lot of fantastic biologists/geneticists/etc. who can reprogram the genes in a living tissue with alacrity, but run in fear from a command line.
[1] http://www.bioperl.org/