So, exactly like bioinformatics, then. Trivial tasks are supported by packages of libraries like BioPerl, but all the original research is sui generis, with the attitude in general being that each problem is unique and only results get published, so who cares if the code is a write-only mess as long as it does the one job after which no one will care about it anyway. In such an environment, the "Lisp Curse" already exists anyway, so why not get the benefit of a more powerful and expressive language when you're already paying its cost?

(Granted, Lisp for bioinformatics is never going to become a generally accepted thing. But if you're not releasing code anyway, no one cares what language you write it in...)