...as difficult as discovering new medicines, you mean?

Chemistry and molecular biology are fiendishly complicated fields, far more complex and less predictable than what general (and most of the non-biochem STEM majors) imagine them to be.

How do I know? I thought of one brilliant startup idea that would solve so many of the world's problems if only we used computers to simulate biological systems.

Result: https://xkcd.com/1831/

Reference materials:

https://www.amazon.ca/Molecular-Biology-Cell-Loose-Version/d...

I strongly recommend to treat it as introductory-level text on the same level as "K&R - C Programming Language". Yes, all 1464 pages of it.

https://www.amazon.ca/Fundamentals-Systems-Biology-Synthetic...

On the same level as above text, but with more math.

https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Computational-Chemistry-...

That or any other book on computational chemistry will give you an understanding why it is difficult to design anything of value in biological systems. ML can only help so much.

Also check out this page for entire field scope:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omics

https://www.amazon.com/Molecular-Biology-Sixth-Bruce-Alberts...

I won't pretend to be able to give an accurate answer but if you wonder about this kind of things, this book is a masterpiece [1]. Yes, it's expensive and big, but also fascinating and very well prepared.

https://www.amazon.com/Molecular-Biology-Sixth-Bruce-Alberts...

Genetics is an extremely fun topic but the learning curve for entry has been non-trivial. It reminds me of the struggles I had when I was first learning to program recursive functions. With that said, it's been far, far more complicated than recursion. So, thank you for the resource, I'm always happy to find content sources that are helpful on the subject. If you enjoy hard CS problems, bioinformatics has been booming and I don't really see it slowing down anytime soon.

As for some resources, these books have been the most helpful for me.

[0] https://www.amazon.com/Molecular-Biology-Cell-Bruce-Alberts-... // I've linked and have seen mentioned here in the past, a great intro to cell biology.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/System-Modeling-Cellular-Biology-Conc... // Modeling with math. I would consider this high-yield as it gave me a great deal of insight into what different code bases are actually attempting to do.

[2] https://www.amazon.com/DNA-Nanoscience-Prebiotic-Emerging-Na... // Blew my mind when I first read it but the content is pretty standard as far as genetics course material goes.

For further reading, I would highly recommend 'Molecular Biology of the Cell'

https://www.amazon.com/Molecular-Biology-of-the-Cell/dp/0815...

MBOC is the book you're looking for by Alberts:

https://www.amazon.com/Molecular-Biology-Cell-Bruce-Alberts/...

It's standard reading at the very least as intro grad/senior undergrad student in the biosciences.

Great book, well written, well curated.

Parent commenter is correct, DNA->function is massively complicated. The main wiki article to start with is:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_dogma_of_molecular_bio...

As the article notes, there are endless exceptions and edge cases. It links to various examples of those.

As a software engineer who decided to learn about biotech with absolutely no background, here is how I started:

- Organic Chemistry course on itunes U (don't remember which one, just first 4-5 lessons)

- Introduction to Genetics: A Molecular Approach by Terry Brown

- Virology course on iTunes U, by Vincent Racaniello - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/w3310-virology-videocast...

- Molecular biology of the cell book ( https://www.amazon.com/Molecular-Biology-Cell-Bruce-Alberts/... )

After going through that (took ~3 months full time), I went for a month to the Bay Area, went to Biocurious hackerspace, to get some practical experience, and within a month I did stuff like ordering custom dna online, and putting it into bacteria :)

All the above was sufficient to understand basics of whatever I'm reading now about biotech, and gain extra knowledge when necessary.

Some notes: - Virology may seem a weird addition, but the course by Racaniello is super-fun, and if you understand how viruses work, you will understand how everything else works - If, like me, you were afraid of Chemistry and Biology in high school, don't worry. Organic Chemistry deals just with just four basic elements, and Molecular Biology is really not much different from mechanics - not that much to remember, and a lot to understand. - Even if you complete just 3-4 first chapters of all the above, you will get nice foundations for understanding biotech. - There are bio hackerspaces in major cities in US (not so much in EU - regulations)

For the question "What are some of the best books to learn from that you recommend for a young startup founder?", I decided to transcribe the answers.

.

"Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future" - http://www.amazon.com/Zero-One-Notes-Startups-Future/dp/0804...

"Republic" - http://www.amazon.com/Republic-Hackett-Classics-Plato/dp/087... (classic, feel free to grab a PDF)

"The Principia : Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy" - http://www.amazon.com/Principia-Mathematical-Principles-Natu... (classic, feel free to grab a PDF)

"Thinking, Fast and Slow" - http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-Kahneman/dp/...

"Molecular Biology of the Cell" - http://www.amazon.com/Molecular-Biology-Cell-Bruce-Alberts/d... (different edition, forgive me; free through NCBI, thanks jkimmel!)

"Dealers of Lightning: Xerox PARC and the Dawn of the Computer Age" - http://www.amazon.com/Dealers-Lightning-Xerox-PARC-Computer/...

"The Supermen: The Story of Seymour Cray and the Technical Wizards Behind the Supercomputer" - http://www.amazon.com/Supermen-Seymour-Technical-Wizards-Sup... (note: "that one's particularly good")

"Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage: Stories" - http://www.amazon.com/Hateship-Friendship-Courtship-Loveship...

"The Score Takes Care of Itself: My Philosophy of Leadership" - http://www.amazon.com/Score-Takes-Care-Itself-Philosophy/dp/...

"The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time" - http://www.amazon.com/Beak-Finch-Story-Evolution-Time/dp/067...

"The Constitutional Convention: A Narrative History from the Notes of James Madison" - http://www.amazon.com/Constitutional-Convention-Narrative-Hi...

"The Art Of War for Lovers" - http://www.amazon.com/The-ART-WAR-FOR-LOVERS/dp/0671000632 (fixed! sorry about that...)

"Hold 'em Poker: For Advanced Players" - http://www.amazon.com/Hold-em-Poker-Advanced-Players/dp/1880...

"Solution Selling: Creating Buyers in Difficult Selling Markets" - http://www.amazon.com/Solution-Selling-Creating-Difficult-Ma...

"The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition" - http://www.amazon.com/Endurance-Shackletons-Legendary-Antarc...

"Winning" - http://www.amazon.com/Winning-Jack-Welch/dp/0060753943/

I wish he had answered in text. That would have made things easier :) However, I'm still very happy to have some new additions to my reading list!