#61 - Biology Doesn't Scale. Systems Do. | Rich Cohen, Ginkgo Bioworks

<p>Spider silk in yeast. Antibody AI models. Pharma companies pooling data across competitors. Rich Cohen has been at the intersection of biology and systems for over a decade — and he&#39;s here to talk about what actually scales and what doesn&#39;t.</p><p>Rich Cohen is Senior Director of Ginkgo Datapoints at Ginkgo Bioworks, working at the intersection of antibody drug discovery, data and product strategy. He started at the bench, moved through technical program management at Bolt Threads, and now helps build the platforms and data products that pharma actually needs.</p><p>In this episode:</p><p>→ Why biology doesn&#39;t scale on its own</p><p>→ What most biotech gets wrong about products</p><p>→ Where AI is actually delivering value</p><p>→ Why de novo drug design is still overhyped</p><p>🎙️ Guest: Rich Cohen — Ginkgo Bioworks / Ginkgo Datapoints</p><p>👥 Hosts: Sura Hadi &amp; Mike Ouren</p><p>📁 Series: Systems of Science</p><p>🔗 Resources mentioned in this episode:</p><p>🧬 Ginkgo Data Points — Services and sample datasets</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbmdxZ3haTklTSXBYbzhiUzk3eWN6V25KSHVmd3xBQ3Jtc0tscVlMV09iaGZGeVE4Z0xLSVBjWksyY1djU0RvbHBLcmlXRzA2VEhTRnpzemduRmV4bTdJVlVoZVl2THdNdmJOcjNTYkJqY3RNNGpHUWlsaTRhLWkwS1k3cndRLWZ3UE9WMVV1SG5HRFhCX3ptaWppYw&q=https%3A%2F%2Fdatapoints.ginkgo.bio%2Fservices&v=IcTZoDxZFfU" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">https://datapoints.ginkgo.bio/services</a></p><p>🤝 Antibody Developability Consortium — Ginkgo Data Points x Apheris</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbTh5U2RsY0F1UmZzYnBMSEpOX0cxTk1nTkNwZ3xBQ3Jtc0tsYlRaY3diRFNTVjNraGdxZXJxNEo0VDRtalU1MlFGSmV6TjNJV2VRQkZiTXdyVEJUdUNDbE9jTGNoSGVxZ0NPd3JwekVGSjlfbTFueEtDSWI3b1FtUlFIeGM3TTVVd0U5dDJ1TzMzMFVlVUFuMUFCbw&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.apheris.com%2Fjoin-a-network%2Fantibody-developability-consortium&v=IcTZoDxZFfU" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">https://www.apheris.com/join-a-networ...</a></p><p>🧪 Amazon Bio Discovery — Design antibodies and order testing directly from Ginkgo</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqa3l3MkdpS280SmNqY0U2aHJVcURlYXFDTUxxd3xBQ3Jtc0trZjR4UnlLdi1zQjRxTUtlQlpSMjNMOFRsQ3kyOGhzbkpZcFVEN1l3S0dJemxRbnNKWmRCOXdaRXFQMnJRNDJ6Wmk5c0FOdWd6NV9EOVN1V2xoUkJGUnB1Ym9XTzZRUE1ORW9ZX3piMC1vZ3BWRjU3Yw&q=https%3A%2F%2Faws.amazon.com%2Fbiodiscovery%2F&v=IcTZoDxZFfU" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">https://aws.amazon.com/biodiscovery/</a></p><p>🧪 Tamarind Bio — Another platform for designing antibodies and ordering Ginkgo testing<a href="https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqazhSRVpad2hyQm56Rkx6anpLcXhndEpUWUljQXxBQ3Jtc0tsR0FXOUdMdjZOX2djd3pyRWozY2t2a2FPYWJrQWtra2FDUlBUczNPYl9VTG5DYWJJQXZLVllkOWxrVV9QRHEzY2FWbXBrV0JXTTFhVFVCQjNGSDBzVVZoQTExc0JTel9GbWdIN2tTeHJFUllmOVBaYw&q=https%3A%2F%2Ftamarind.bio%2F&v=IcTZoDxZFfU" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">https://tamarind.bio</a></p><p>📦 Order Ginkgo Data Points services on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbkg4MVZOTzhaWmlBeEVhNk5vd2VwbWxaZTZDZ3xBQ3Jtc0tsZ015QnQ1bkctY21Ld0w5RkdzZFNkMVU2VVc5VzhSTWwwQlllSjdWcUp4ekVidW0yVE12QXk2ZGJPTk91SjVqODFiUHNlUGU3QmsyclJjWmxfSnJscndkRDRtX0tiVTRDYWZIZU5wNVo1bEpWUTBkNA&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.scienceexchange.com%2F&v=IcTZoDxZFfU" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">https://www.scienceexchange.com/</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqa1pIS24ydkFwa1hHNUxOemtUcl9zRkNQMWVHQXxBQ3Jtc0tsLTNqdVZhTmZjSE83WVo3eVBiaVJ2dWRsckRiUzFYT1ZoV09feVFJTlRfTlh0YzF6bll5SGoxNl9WVDNiVm9HNGhJQ3ZwR18tZnRrNFE3UlN2ekU5aUtMZEtPaGdtWmM1OFBWUTBkbnRaT1FQVnNlVQ&q=https%3A%2F%2Fscientist.com%2F&v=IcTZoDxZFfU" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">https://scientist.com/</a></p><p>📊 Download Ginkgo datasets on <a