LABLOOP v7 roadmap: hybrid, lead-first

The v5/v6 plan was built to make a research scientist: three preprints, two journal submissions, a JOSS paper, three products, protein ML, extremophiles, field trials and a fund offer, all in 400 hours. Week 1 showed the real pace: a "30-minute" biology block took five hours. The plan could not finish on time in any order.

The goal is also different. Peter wants a well-paid, coherent role helping biotech and pharma implement AI, with a credible personal brand, and without writing papers that do not pay back. That is closer to an AI transformation or delivery lead than to a research scientist.

Direction: hybrid, weighted towards the lead role.

• Credibility comes from working, measured tools and real GridX case studies, not from papers.
• One publication-grade artifact stays: the FermLit technical report and dataset, each with a DOI. No PhD is needed for that, and an evaluated F1 table is exactly the evidence pharma AI leads are asked for.
• Enough biology and math to build solutions for GridX startups and talk credibly with their scientists, learned just in time for each build.
• Program management experience from EY is the core asset; the plan finally uses it (discovery, scoping, delivery, readouts).

1. One core source per study slot, 60 minutes maximum. Everything else is "deeper" and optional.
2. The understanding check is the stop signal, not the end of the chapter.
3. Curiosity goes to PARKING and the Saturday sandbox, never into the core time.
4. One post every two weeks is the branding cadence, built from that week's real figure.
5. Weeks 18, 26, 30 and 39 are buffers. Use them to catch up, not to add scope.

The module column names the existing folder whose specs and cards to use. "New" means the spec is written when the week arrives.

Act I · Bioprocess AI foundation (weeks 0–4, unchanged)

Study for weeks 1–4 is the trimmed core agreed on 2026-09-29: enzymes and Monod → respiration overview → growth curve → fermentation vs respiration; 3Blue1Brown ch. 1–3 → derivatives as rates → dot product, eigenvectors, PCA → cross-validation and leakage.

Act II · Regulated AI in pharma (weeks 5–10)

The most marketable skill for pharma: AI that a quality department can trust.

Act III · Measured LLM extraction, the credibility piece (weeks 11–18)

Act IV · Market: jobs and paid work (weeks 19–30)

Act V · Proof and decision (weeks 31–40)

Every stage ends with a number a pharma buyer understands. Public tools show capability; only real engagements produce a client result, and the two are never mixed in a claim.

By week 30 that is three capability numbers and up to three client results. The portfolio (week 17), the offer (week 21), interview answers (week 27) and the talk (week 34) are built from these numbers only.

Not deleted: the folders stay, and any of these can come back if a real opportunity needs it.

• Paper 1 bioRxiv preprint and Paper 2 arXiv, including endorsement hunting (old weeks 12, 14, 15, 16, 18, 20)
• Journal submissions (old week 36)
• Protein ML, extremophile ranking and the partner co-author Paper 3 (old weeks 21–24, 31, 32)
• trialkit field and plate modules (old weeks 25–26)
• Fund portfolio offer (old week 39)

Revisit condition: a GridX startup or an employer asks for one of these, or FermLit attracts a scientist who wants to co-author.

Weeks 1–4 were rewritten on 2026-09-29 in the mission format, the template for every later week:

• Each day is one mission: an emoji and a short name, a 5-minute Hook tied to Peter's own build, one Do, and an observable Done when. Boring parts are delegated to AI (Peter reviews) or time-boxed.
• Study days pair learning with the build it explains, and stop at the understanding check. Leftover time goes back to the build.
• Saturday: catch up, then a guilt-free rabbit-hole slot. Sunday: "show it", one visible post, and write next Monday's first action.
• Roadblock rule (also on every cockpit week page): does Done when need it? No → skip and log. Yes → let AI do the boring part. Still stuck → smallest version in 25 minutes.

Rolling preparation, two weeks ahead. The later weeks are not all rewritten now: the week 5 market check and the GridX case studies will change them, and 36 detailed weeks up front would add overwhelm. Instead:

• The cockpit still numbers weeks the old way. Weeks 0–4 are identical, so nothing is wrong yet. Before week 5, the app needs to follow this order (show v7 week 5 using the new market-check module, week 6 using the week-33 folder, and so on).
• Week 5, 27, 28 and 29 have no spec yet. Write each one when the week is two weeks away.
• The salary target is unverified until the week 5 market check.