The
BiB logo
Bits in Bio
presented by

Nitro Bio

The State of TechBio Survey aims to provide data to those who want to improve the software and tools used in the field. We hope that the community will discover insights on attitudes, tools, and environments influencing science and software today.

Survey Results are grouped into 4 sections:

  1. BiB Community
  2. Professional Experience
  3. Technical Experience
  4. Respondent Demographics

Acknowledgments

A huge thank you to all the Bits in Bio community members who participated in this annual survey, as well as Nitro Bio for the technical support.

Feedback

We welcome feedback! Please reach out to Shaq Vayda with your suggestions! For any technical issues or feedback concerning this website, please reach out to survey@nitro.bio.

Survey Data

Download Data

BiB Community

Professional Experience

BiB Community

How did you hear about Bits in Bio?

263

Respondents

0%34%68%
Through word of mouth (a colleague or friend)
57%

Through word of mouth (a colleague or friend)

150/263 respondents57%
Twitter
19%

Twitter

50/263 respondents19%
LinkedIn
10%

LinkedIn

25/263 respondents10%
Bits in Bio meetup
6%

Bits in Bio meetup

16/263 respondents6%
Search Engine
3%

Search Engine

7/263 respondents3%

How frequently would you say you go on the Bits in Bio Slack Channel during a typical month?

261

Respondents

0%20%40%
A few times per month or weekly
33%

A few times per month or weekly

86/261 respondents33%
A few times per week
27%

A few times per week

70/261 respondents27%
Less than once per month or monthly
19%

Less than once per month or monthly

49/261 respondents19%
Daily or almost daily
13%

Daily or almost daily

34/261 respondents13%
Never
5%

Never

14/261 respondents5%

Which part of Bits in Bio do you find most useful?

261

Respondents

0%24%47%
Slack community
39%

Slack community

103/261 respondents39%
Meetups
26%

Meetups

68/261 respondents26%
Job Board / channel
16%

Job Board/channel

42/261 respondents16%
None
7%

None

17/261 respondents7%
Q&As
7%

Q&As

17/261 respondents7%

Do you consider yourself a member of the Bits in Bio community?

261

Respondents

0%29%58%
Yes, somewhat
49%

Yes, somewhat

127/261 respondents49%
No, not really
25%

No, not really

64/261 respondents25%
Yes, definitely
19%

Yes, definitely

50/261 respondents19%
No, not at all
5%

No, not at all

13/261 respondents5%
Not sure
3%

Not sure

7/261 respondents3%

We are thinking about starting a new education initiative within BiB, which one of these activities are you most interested in?

173

Respondents

0%16%32%
Knowledge based articles or presentations on topics such as "Introduction to different modalities: small molecule vs gene therapy."
27%

Knowledge based articles or presentations on topics such as "Introduction to different modalities: small molecule vs gene therapy."

46/173 respondents27%
Mentorship Program (where we pair a new-to-the-field person with someone who has gone through a similar process)
22%

Mentorship Program (where we pair a new-to-the-field person with someone who has gone through a similar process)

38/173 respondents22%
Themed hackathons with lectures and mentors (e.g. bootcamp to gain structured learning for either bio or coding)
21%

Themed hackathons with lectures and mentors (e.g. bootcamp to gain structured learning for either bio or coding)

37/173 respondents21%
Tech <> Bio Buddy Program (we pair a tech person with a bio person with supplementary skills and interests so they can learn from each other)
16%

Tech <> Bio Buddy Program (we pair a tech person with a bio person with supplementary skills and interests so they can learn from each other)

28/173 respondents16%
Career related articles or presentations on topics such as di erent job profiles within the field, unexpected challenges of each job function and the industry.
9%

Career related articles or presentations on topics such as di erent job profiles within the field, unexpected challenges of each job function and the industry.

16/173 respondents9%
None of the above
5%

None of the above

8/173 respondents5%
Professional Experience

Do you consider yourself to be working in industry or academia?

263

Respondents

0%45%90%
Industry
75%

Industry

197/263 respondents75%
Academia
23%

Academia

60/263 respondents23%
Other
2%

Other

6/263 respondents2%

Which of the following best describes your current employment status?

263

Respondents

0%41%81%
Employed Full time
68%

Employed Full time

178/263 respondents68%
PhD-student or post-doc
10%

PhD-student or post-doc

26/263 respondents10%
Independent contractor, freelancer, or self-employed
7%

Independent contractor, freelancer, or self-employed

18/263 respondents7%
Student, full-time
5%

Student, full-time

14/263 respondents5%
Not employed, but looking for work
5%

Not employed, but looking for work

12/263 respondents5%

What sources do you use to keep up to date in your field?

263

Respondents

0%39%78%
Linkedin
65%

Linkedin

170/263 respondents65%
Bits in Bio
63%

Bits in Bio

166/263 respondents63%
Conferences
51%

Conferences

134/263 respondents51%
Twitter
50%

Twitter

131/263 respondents50%
Biorxiv
49%

Biorxiv

128/263 respondents49%

Which of the following best describes your current role?

263

Respondents

0%21%41%
Computational Biologist / Bioinformatician
34%

Computational Biologist/Bioinformatician

90/263 respondents34%
Management
28%

Management

73/263 respondents28%
Software Engineer
26%

Software Engineer

69/263 respondents26%
Data Scientist
17%

Data Scientist

44/263 respondents17%
ML Engineer / Researcher
13%

ML Engineer/Researcher

35/263 respondents13%

Are you curious to learn more about biology or the biotech space, and if so, what are the questions you have?

170

Respondents

0%34%68%
What are the big problems worth tackling in the field?
57%

What are the big problems worth tackling in the field?

97/170 respondents57%
What is the landscape of each of these problem space?
55%

What is the landscape of each of these problem space?

93/170 respondents55%
Who can I talk to when I have questions in this field?
39%

Who can I talk to when I have questions in this field?

66/170 respondents39%
What are the helpful resources I can leverage to start learning about this field?
37%

What are the helpful resources I can leverage to start learning about this field?

63/170 respondents37%
What are the possible roles within this field?
25%

What are the possible roles within this field?

43/170 respondents25%

What industry does your organization operate in?

263

Respondents

0%46%93%
Biotech / Pharma
77%

Biotech/Pharma

203/263 respondents77%
Basic / Fundamental research
22%

Basic / Fundamental research

59/263 respondents22%
Information Technology
22%

Information Technology

57/263 respondents22%
Agriculture
7%

Agriculture

19/263 respondents7%
Food & Nutrition
6%

Food & Nutrition

17/263 respondents6%

Approximately how many people are employed by the company or organization you currently work for?

263

Respondents

0%18%35%
2 - 19 employees
29%

2 - 19 employees

77/263 respondents29%
20-99 employees
20%

20-99 employees

52/263 respondents20%
100-499 employees
17%

100-499 employees

45/263 respondents17%
5,000 or more employees
15%

5,000 or more employees

39/263 respondents15%
500- 4,999 employees
12%

500- 4,999 employees

32/263 respondents12%
Just me - I am a freelancer, sole proprietor, etc.
7%

Just me - I am a freelancer, sole proprietor, etc.

18/263 respondents7%

Which persona do you most identify with?

263

Respondents

0%26%53%
You primarily write code within a biotech / pharma
44%

You primarily write code within a biotech/pharma

116/263 respondents44%
You primarily write code, but not in a biotech / pharma
20%

You primarily write code, but not in a biotech/pharma

52/263 respondents20%
None of the above
16%

None of the above

43/263 respondents16%
You work in a biotech / pharma, do wet lab experiments, and also do a modest amount of coding
11%

You work in a biotech/pharma, do wet lab experiments, and also do a modest amount of coding

30/263 respondents11%
You work in a biotech / pharma, but do not write code (e.g. majority wet lab)
8%

You work in a biotech/pharma, but do not write code (e.g. majority wet lab)

22/263 respondents8%
Technical Experience

Has your work involved protein engineering?

263

Respondents

0%29%57%
No
48%

No

126/263 respondents48%
Not yet - but I'm curious to explore protein engineering in the future
32%

Not yet - but I'm curious to explore protein engineering in the future

85/263 respondents32%
Yes
20%

Yes

52/263 respondents20%

What types of proteins do you regularly work with?

51

Respondents

0%27%54%
Antibodies
45%

Antibodies

23/51 respondents45%
Enzymes
45%

Enzymes

23/51 respondents45%
Structural proteins
33%

Structural proteins

17/51 respondents33%
Gene regulatory proteins
24%

Gene regulatory proteins

12/51 respondents24%
Short peptides
24%

Short peptides

12/51 respondents24%

Which of the following design objectives do you regularly work on?

47

Respondents

0%29%59%
Improve binding affinity (Kd; protein<>protein, protein<>ligand)
49%

Improve binding affinity (Kd; protein<>protein, protein<>ligand)

23/47 respondents49%
Stability optimization
40%

Stability optimization

19/47 respondents40%
Improve solubility
38%

Improve solubility

18/47 respondents38%
Discover & Find novel activity / function
36%

Discover & Find novel activity / function

17/47 respondents36%
Improve (heterologous) expression
32%

Improve (heterologous) expression

15/47 respondents32%

How many candidates do you typically assay each round?

42

Respondents

0%20%40%
24
33%

24

14/42 respondents33%
96
24%

96

10/42 respondents24%
384
7%

384

3/42 respondents7%
384-1536
5%

384-1536

2/42 respondents5%
1.5k-10k
5%

1.5k-10k

2/42 respondents5%

Has your work involved machine learning?

263

Respondents

0%39%77%
Yes
64%

Yes

169/263 respondents64%
Not yet - but I'm curious to explore machine learning in the future
27%

Not yet - but I'm curious to explore machine learning in the future

72/263 respondents27%
No
8%

No

22/263 respondents8%

Which of the following machine learning models do you regularly work with?

125

Respondents

0%39%78%
GPT-3 / GPT-4
65%

GPT-3/GPT-4

81/125 respondents65%
AlphaFold / AlphaFold2
43%

AlphaFold/AlphaFold2

54/125 respondents43%
ESM / ESMFold
24%

ESM/ESMFold

30/125 respondents24%
LLaMA / LLaMA 2
13%

LLaMA/LLaMA 2

16/125 respondents13%
ProteinMPNN
11%

ProteinMPNN

14/125 respondents11%

Which of the following design objectives do you regularly work on using machine learning?

148

Respondents

0%27%54%
Target identification / selection
45%

Target identification/selection

67/148 respondents45%
Library / in silico screening
38%

Library/in silico screening

56/148 respondents38%
Hit generation / selection (e.g. generating binders)
23%

Hit generation/selection (e.g. generating binders)

34/148 respondents23%
Predicting bioactivity
20%

Predicting bioactivity

29/148 respondents20%
in vitro testing
19%

in vitro testing

28/148 respondents19%

Has your work involved lab automation?

263

Respondents

0%22%45%
Yes
37%

Yes

98/263 respondents37%
No
36%

No

94/263 respondents36%
Not yet - but I'm curious to explore lab automation in the future
27%

Not yet - but I'm curious to explore lab automation in the future

71/263 respondents27%

Which lab equipment vendors do you regularly work with?

90

Respondents

0%33%67%
Illumina (e.g. NovaSeq, MiSeq, NextSeq)
56%

Illumina (e.g. NovaSeq, MiSeq, NextSeq)

50/90 respondents56%
Thermo Fisher (e.g. Sorvall, Heracell, Applied Bio)
51%

Thermo Fisher (e.g. Sorvall, Heracell, Applied Bio)

46/90 respondents51%
Agilent Technologies (e.g. InfinityLab, Intelliq)
43%

Agilent Technologies (e.g. InfinityLab, Intelliq)

39/90 respondents43%
Hamilton (e.g. Microlab, Verso, NIMBUS)
43%

Hamilton (e.g. Microlab, Verso, NIMBUS)

39/90 respondents43%
Tecan (e.g. Freedom EVO, Fluent)
36%

Tecan (e.g. Freedom EVO, Fluent)

32/90 respondents36%

Which of the following design objectives do you regularly work on using lab automation?

92

Respondents

0%37%73%
Data Acquisition and Analysis
61%

Data Acquisition and Analysis

56/92 respondents61%
Liquid Handling and Pipetting
58%

Liquid Handling and Pipetting

53/92 respondents58%
High-Throughput Screening
55%

High-Throughput Screening

51/92 respondents55%
Sample Preparation and Extraction (e.g. dilution, mixing, extraction)
50%

Sample Preparation and Extraction (e.g. dilution, mixing, extraction)

46/92 respondents50%
Molecular Biology Workflows (e.g. PCR, sequencing)
37%

Molecular Biology Workflows (e.g. PCR, sequencing)

34/92 respondents37%

Do you code?

263

Respondents

0%43%87%
Yes - I am comfortable writing code
72%

Yes - I am comfortable writing code

190/263 respondents72%
Some - I modify other people's code, but rarely start from scratch.
16%

Some - I modify other people's code, but rarely start from scratch.

42/263 respondents16%
No - I don't write code
12%

No - I don't write code

31/263 respondents12%

How often do you personally do data analysis for work?

232

Respondents

0%25%50%
Daily
41%

Daily

96/232 respondents41%
Weekly
27%

Weekly

62/232 respondents27%
Monthly
12%

Monthly

27/232 respondents12%
Rarely
11%

Rarely

26/232 respondents11%
Every 3 months
5%

Every 3 months

12/232 respondents5%

Which of the following languages do you use for data analysis?

220

Respondents

0%50%100%
Python
93%

Python

204/220 respondents93%
R
47%

R

103/220 respondents47%
Shell (Bash / Powershell/etc)
44%

Shell (Bash/Powershell/etc)

97/220 respondents44%
SQL
33%

SQL

72/220 respondents33%
C++
6%

C++

14/220 respondents6%

How often do you write scripts to automate previously manual tasks for work?

232

Respondents

0%16%31%
Monthly
26%

Monthly

60/232 respondents26%
Weekly
26%

Weekly

60/232 respondents26%
Daily
18%

Daily

42/232 respondents18%
Rarely
13%

Rarely

31/232 respondents13%
Every 3 months
9%

Every 3 months

22/232 respondents9%

Which of the following languages do you use to write scripts to automate workflows?

215

Respondents

0%50%100%
Python
88%

Python

189/215 respondents88%
Shell (Bash / Powershell/etc)
53%

Shell (Bash/Powershell/etc)

113/215 respondents53%
R
20%

R

44/215 respondents20%
Nextflow
16%

Nextflow

35/215 respondents16%
Snakemake
7%

Snakemake

14/215 respondents7%

How often do you personally develop new tools and libraries for work?

232

Respondents

0%15%30%
Rarely
25%

Rarely

58/232 respondents25%
Daily
17%

Daily

40/232 respondents17%
Monthly
16%

Monthly

37/232 respondents16%
Weekly
15%

Weekly

35/232 respondents15%
Never
13%

Never

31/232 respondents13%

Which of the following languages do you use to develop new tools and libraries?

191

Respondents

0%50%100%
Python
91%

Python

173/191 respondents91%
R
21%

R

40/191 respondents21%
Shell (Bash / Powershell/etc)
18%

Shell (Bash/Powershell/etc)

34/191 respondents18%
JavaScript
13%

JavaScript

24/191 respondents13%
TypeScript
10%

TypeScript

20/191 respondents10%

How often do you personally program data engineering / pipelines for work?

232

Respondents

0%14%28%
Rarely
23%

Rarely

54/232 respondents23%
Never
20%

Never

47/232 respondents20%
Daily
18%

Daily

41/232 respondents18%
Weekly
13%

Weekly

31/232 respondents13%
Monthly
13%

Monthly

30/232 respondents13%
Every 3 months
13%

Every 3 months

29/232 respondents13%

Which of the following languages do you use for data engineering / pipelines?

185

Respondents

0%50%100%
Python
94%

Python

173/185 respondents94%
Shell (Bash / Powershell/etc)
29%

Shell (Bash/Powershell/etc)

53/185 respondents29%
R
18%

R

33/185 respondents18%
SQL
15%

SQL

28/185 respondents15%
JavaScript
3%

JavaScript

6/185 respondents3%

How often do you personally do machine learning for work?

232

Respondents

0%16%31%
Never
26%

Never

60/232 respondents26%
Rarely
20%

Rarely

47/232 respondents20%
Monthly
18%

Monthly

42/232 respondents18%
Weekly
13%

Weekly

31/232 respondents13%
Daily
13%

Daily

30/232 respondents13%

Which of the following languages do you use to do machine learning?

163

Respondents

0%50%100%
Python
94%

Python

154/163 respondents94%
R
19%

R

31/163 respondents19%
Shell (Bash / Powershell/etc)
8%

Shell (Bash/Powershell/etc)

13/163 respondents8%
C++
4%

C++

6/163 respondents4%
SQL
4%

SQL

6/163 respondents4%

Which of the following machine learning tools (frameworks, libraries, models, etc) do you work with?

155

Respondents

0%42%84%
Pytorch
70%

Pytorch

109/155 respondents70%
Scikit-Learn
66%

Scikit-Learn

103/155 respondents66%
Tensorflow
39%

Tensorflow

61/155 respondents39%
AlphaFold
25%

AlphaFold

38/155 respondents25%
OpenAI
25%

OpenAI

38/155 respondents25%

How often do you personally program web interfaces for work?

232

Respondents

0%24%48%
Never
40%

Never

93/232 respondents40%
Rarely
25%

Rarely

58/232 respondents25%
Daily
12%

Daily

27/232 respondents12%
Weekly
9%

Weekly

20/232 respondents9%
Monthly
8%

Monthly

18/232 respondents8%
Every 3 months
7%

Every 3 months

16/232 respondents7%

Which of the following languages do you use to program web interfaces?

133

Respondents

0%37%73%
Python
61%

Python

81/133 respondents61%
JavaScript
44%

JavaScript

59/133 respondents44%
HTML / CSS
30%

HTML/CSS

40/133 respondents30%
TypeScript
29%

TypeScript

38/133 respondents29%
R
11%

R

14/133 respondents11%

Which databases have you worked with extensively?

219

Respondents

0%28%55%
PostgreSQL
46%

PostgreSQL

101/219 respondents46%
MySQL
33%

MySQL

73/219 respondents33%
Not relevant to me - I don't work with databases
28%

Not relevant to me - I don't work with databases

62/219 respondents28%
SQLite
27%

SQLite

59/219 respondents27%
MongoDB
15%

MongoDB

33/219 respondents15%

Which cloud platforms have you extensively developed with?

232

Respondents

0%37%73%
AWS
61%

AWS

142/232 respondents61%
Google Cloud Platform
33%

Google Cloud Platform

76/232 respondents33%
Not relevant to me - I don't work with cloud platforms
25%

Not relevant to me - I don't work with cloud platforms

57/232 respondents25%
Microso Azure
8%

Microso Azure

18/232 respondents8%
DigitalOcean
5%

DigitalOcean

11/232 respondents5%

Which of the following data sources do you use extensively?

232

Respondents

0%27%54%
Not relevant to me - I don't work with such data sources
45%

Not relevant to me - I don't work with such data sources

104/232 respondents45%
Uniprot
33%

Uniprot

76/232 respondents33%
Literature
27%

Literature

62/232 respondents27%
RCSB / PDB
19%

RCSB / PDB

44/232 respondents19%
KEGG
19%

KEGG

43/232 respondents19%

When you are using data from another source, what formats does it come in (input data)?

232

Respondents

0%42%85%
CSV / TSV
71%

CSV/TSV

164/232 respondents71%
FASTA
50%

FASTA

116/232 respondents50%
JSON
48%

JSON

111/232 respondents48%
FASTQ
47%

FASTQ

108/232 respondents47%
Excel
44%

Excel

102/232 respondents44%

When you are storing data for analysis or later use which formats do you use (output data)?

232

Respondents

0%40%79%
CSV / TSV
66%

CSV/TSV

153/232 respondents66%
JSON
39%

JSON

91/232 respondents39%
Parquet
22%

Parquet

50/232 respondents22%
BAM / SAM
21%

BAM/SAM

49/232 respondents21%
Excel
21%

Excel

49/232 respondents21%

What tools and libraries do you use to visualise data?

232

Respondents

0%35%71%
Matplotlib
59%

Matplotlib

137/232 respondents59%
Plotly
38%

Plotly

88/232 respondents38%
Ggplot
30%

Ggplot

69/232 respondents30%
Excel
26%

Excel

61/232 respondents26%
Google Sheets
21%

Google Sheets

48/232 respondents21%

Which of the following lab information management systems and electronic lab notebooks do you use?

232

Respondents

0%28%57%
Not relevant to me - I don't work with LIMS / ELN
47%

Not relevant to me - I don't work with LIMS/ELN

110/232 respondents47%
Benchling
36%

Benchling

84/232 respondents36%
CDD
6%

CDD

13/232 respondents6%
BaseSpace
5%

BaseSpace

12/232 respondents5%
Sapio Sciences
3%

Sapio Sciences

8/232 respondents3%
Respondent Demographics

How old are you?

263

Respondents

0%32%64%
25-35
53%

25-35

140/263 respondents53%
35-45
25%

35-45

67/263 respondents25%
18-25
13%

18-25

33/263 respondents13%
45-60
8%

45-60

21/263 respondents8%
60+
1%

60+

2/263 respondents1%

Which of the following, if any, best describes you?

263

Respondents

0%38%76%
Man
63%

Man

167/263 respondents63%
Woman
30%

Woman

78/263 respondents30%
Prefer not to say
7%

Prefer not to say

18/263 respondents7%
Non-binary
1%

Non-binary

3/263 respondents1%

What country do you live in?

263

Respondents

0%45%90%
United States
75%

United States

198/263 respondents75%
Canada
6%

Canada

16/263 respondents6%
Germany
3%

Germany

8/263 respondents3%
United Kingdom
3%

United Kingdom

8/263 respondents3%
Switzerland
2%

Switzerland

5/263 respondents2%

Which of the following, if at all, best describes you?

263

Respondents

0%27%53%
North American
44%

North American

117/263 respondents44%
White
30%

White

80/263 respondents30%
European
21%

European

56/263 respondents21%
Prefer not to say
11%

Prefer not to say

28/263 respondents11%
Asian
8%

Asian

22/263 respondents8%

Which of the following best describes the highest level of formal education that you've completed?

263

Respondents

0%22%43%
Other doctoral degree (Ph.D., Ed.D., etc.)
36%

Other doctoral degree (Ph.D., Ed.D., etc.)

95/263 respondents36%
Master's degree (M.A., M.S., M.Eng., MBA, etc.)
30%

Master's degree (M.A., M.S., M.Eng., MBA, etc.)

80/263 respondents30%
Bachelor's degree (B.A., B.S., B.Eng., etc.)
30%

Bachelor's degree (B.A., B.S., B.Eng., etc.)

79/263 respondents30%
Secondary school (e.g. American high school, German Realschule or Gymnasium, etc.)
2%

Secondary school (e.g. American high school, German Realschule or Gymnasium, etc.)

4/263 respondents2%
Professional degree (JD, MD, etc.)
1%

Professional degree (JD, MD, etc.)

3/263 respondents1%
Some college / university study without earning a degree
1%

Some college/university study without earning a degree

2/263 respondents1%

How do you feel about the broader biotech market in the near future?

263

Respondents

0%23%47%
Somewhat bullish
39%

Somewhat bullish

102/263 respondents39%
Neutral
25%

Neutral

66/263 respondents25%
Very bullish
19%

Very bullish

50/263 respondents19%
Somewhat bearish
14%

Somewhat bearish

36/263 respondents14%
Very bearish
3%

Very bearish

9/263 respondents3%