A Billion Oil Tankers and a Slice of Cheese (with Claes Gustafsson)

“We compress DNA from oil-tanker scale to 96 wells - and still capture everything that matters.”

🎙️ The latest episode of The Next Experiment is out!

Markus Gershater and Phil Kay sit down with Claes Gustafsson to talk about the power of design of experiments (DOE) in biology, how to get the most out of your data, and why smart experimentation beats brute force every time.

Claes shares how DOE lets you compress enormous experimental spaces, optimize proteins, and even improve enzymes used in millions of cheeses worldwide. He dives into codon optimization, iterative rounds of testing, and why a good assay is always king.

Some standout lines:

🔹 “If your assay sucks, it doesn’t matter how much DOE you put on it - it will still suck.”

🔹 “Biologists love collecting data, but more data isn’t better. The question is: how do you get the most bang for your data buck?”

🔹 “You don’t need to understand every mechanism. You just need to know which experiments will reliably get the outcome you care about.”

If you’re in biotech, protein engineering, or any field where structured experimentation matters, Claes’ insights are gold.