Biotech Beat: Jurassic Park Inspires a Biotech Journey to Associate Scientist

The Biotech Beat Podcast, from the Alumni and Industry Engagement ATE project (DUE 2202011), delivers fresh episodes each month. Tune in to the August 14, 2025 episode where they hear Darrin, a biotech professional at Conception Biosciences in Berkeley, describe how Jurassic Park and marine biology inspiration started him on his journey through City College of San Francisco's biotech program, leading him to his role as an Associate Scientist.

Darrin says that he was young when Jurassic Park came out, and although paleontology was not that interesting to him, the idea that a species could be brought back from extinction was! Marine biology was also a passion of his, until he got to college and realized that much of the field was, in his words, "single-celled organisms and analytical chemistry". In addition, a book called The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology, by Ray Kurzwell, came out when he was in high school, and that sparked his interest in biotechnology.

Outside of work, Darrin likes gardening, aquascaping, and raises quails for eggs! He worked as a DJ for 10 years, but science is his main passion.

Conception Biosciences (CB)
In his job, Darrin helps to design experiments, trouble-shooting, and writing up protocols. He works with IPSCs in the biosafety cabinet/cell culture area--he also has a lot of experience in quality control which is helpful in his role. The company is about 45 people on-site, as well as a computational team around the world.

Darrin had been working in neuroscience before his first day at CB, and so his new role was a big pivot. That made him feel like a bit of an imposter when he started, but the company is very supportive and he now feels like a valuable member of the team.

Darrin had an extended time for his undergrad and finished it with classes from City College of San Francisco (CCSF). He then spent additional time at CCSF where he went through the Biotechnology Program. After graduating, he had impressed the Biotech team at CCSF and so was hired as a lab assistant by CCSF which gave him invaluable experience and helped him get an internship at UCSF, some time at Synthego, and then moving forward to Conception Biosciences.

An unexpected thing he found in Biotech?  The variety of every day--frequent changes in methods and protocols brought about from others in your field.

Leaving the education setting and going to biotech was a bit hectic and definitely high stakes, but Darrin feels proud to be able to say he is a scientist in Berkeley. Advice to people interested in biotech? You do need to have an interest in it, an innate curiousity in nature. And you need to have grit--a lot of failures happen and you need to be able to accept that. An experiemental failure does not mean you are not a good scientist. And the most important thing? To be honest--perfection is not possible, and being honest is what must be done. Failures can guide the next step.

Tune in on Spotify, iHeart Radio, or Apple Podcasts for more of Darrin's journey and the advice he shares to make it in the rapidly changing and collaborative world of biotech research.

If you're a community college graduate, they'd love to hear about your journey on Biotech Beat. Please get in touch with Cassandra at cassandra.mitchell-nothaus@austincc.edu.