Machine learning and microbes: How big data is redefining biotechnology - TechRepublic

Machine learning and artificial intelligence are all the rage today in venture capital circles. We've seen spectacular exits in the past few years, from Google absorbing Deepmind in 2014 for $500 million, to Twitter buying TellApart in 2015 for $533 million, and Intel swallowing Nervana in 2016 for $400 million. But these were all IT plays. Berkeley-based Lygos is engineering and designing microbes that convert low-cost sugar into high-value, specialty chemicals. Ultimately, the ability to design and optimize microbes, or program them, is becoming faster and cheaper than ever before.