[Symmetry]

It's too large and complex to do now but I bet we'll be able to do that sort of thing by 2040.

[koheripbal]

The reason it's not researched much is because giving someone an antibody will not confer immunity - it will only treat the immediate virus.

It has value, but there are usually better treatments available that more broadly fight a variety of viruses and don't need to be so specifically customized as an antibody.

[dukoid]

I suppose testing would be easier for a cure (compared to a vaccine)? Given that only the "adapter" needs to be specialized, I was wondering why there don't seem to be any approaches based on antibody mass-production....

[woofie11]

I have a friend who runs a company which genetically engineers cells to make chemicals for a living. This doesn't seem like 2040-era science fiction.

Indeed, I'm not sure it's out-of-scope for 2020-era technology.

[nojvek]

What is the said company ?

[woofie11]

Ginko Bioworks.

Apparently it's grown quite a bit since I've spoken to my friend. When we last checked in, it was a little startup. Now, it's a $2.4 billion dollar operation. I guess my friend is probably worth a few hundred million right now.

[est31]

Maybe even by 2030 if the coronavirus causes an expansion of research. Which it'll likely do.