[Hplusroadmap] [wta-talk] Fwd: DIYbio blog now live

[Antonio Marcos]

Awesome site.. there are articles I cant read though =/ are those paid?!

thanks
Mark.

--- Em qua, 28/5/08, Bryan Bishop <kanzure at gmail.com> escreveu:
De: Bryan Bishop <kanzure at gmail.com>
Assunto: [Hplusroadmap]  [wta-talk] Fwd: DIYbio blog now live
Para: "Transhumanist Technical Roadmap" <hplusroadmap at heybryan.org>, "World Transhumanist Association Discussion List" <wta-talk at transhumanism.org>
Data: Quarta-feira, 28 de Maio de 2008, 9:47

----------  Forwarded Message  ----------

Subject: DIYbio blog now live
Date: Tuesday 27 May 2008
From: Jason Bobe <jasonbobe at gmail.com>
To: DIYbio <diybio at googlegroups.com>


First post is up on the new DIYbio blog. It is an attempt to summarize
the first DIYbio meet-up a few weeks back.

http://blog.diybio.org/

Jason Bobe



Saturday, May 24, 2008
Don't Phage Me, Bro

In the packed back-room of Asgard's Irish Pub in Cambridge, a diverse
crowd of 25+ enthusiasts gathered to discuss the next big thing in
biology: amateurs. Mackenzie (Mac) Cowell led-off the night with an
overview of recent history in biological engineering, and asked the
question: Can molecular biology or biotechnology be a hobby? Will
advancements in synthetic biology be the tipping point that enables
DIYers and garagistas to make meaningful contributions to the
biological sciences, outside of traditional institutions? Can
DIYbio.org be the Homebrew Computer Club of biology?

Noting that he was a recent expatriate from the institutional setting
himself, Mac wondered out loud whether he would ever again be able to
wield a pipette. A proliferation of projects and protocols available
online make his prospects, and the prospects of the 25 or so
individuals attending the first DIYbio meeting, quite good.

Over the noisy background of Thursday night pub chatter, just a few
blocks from MIT, attendees around the room took a few moments to
introduce themselves and their interests. "I've been a software
engineer my whole life and I'm looking for something new," said one
attendee, who was accompanied by his enthusiastic teenage son. Also
present were a dozen or so graduate students, several software
engineers, journalist and her boyfriend, and even a few professors
from Harvard and MIT.

Mac flipped through slides indicating that "backyard biology" is
alive
and well. One illustrated guide found online describes how to isolate
DNA using chemicals found in every kitchen cupboard. Need more DNA? A
$10 PCR device assembled from basic parts might do the trick. And a
recipe from the pages of MAKE magazine provides the know-how for
armchair anthropologists to combine a few legos, a source of current,
and a cheap enzyme kit to generate DNA fingerprints.

While backyard biology promises to be an avenue for individuals to
flex their intellectual muscles and explore the molecular world around
them, Jason Bobe argued that the possible impacts of a DIY world go
well beyond that. Amateurs and hobbyists are making significant
contributions to engineering, environmental sensing, and even medical
devices.

A ham-radio hacker, turned reluctant cancer patient, recently combined
his expertise about radio waves with spare parts from his home to
build a prototype device capable of targeting the destruction of
cancer cells. This device is undergoing clinical trials at two major
medical research centers, after attracting investments from venture
capitalists and the collaboration of a Nobel Laureate who was
intrigued by preliminary results generated from the DIYers garage.

Undergraduate participants of iGEM are increasingly capable of
engineering biological systems that have the potential to do real work
in the world. Banana-scented E. coli might be fun, but arsenic sensing
bacteria for identifying contaminated water supplies might actually
save lives. If undergraduates are able to design these systems, who
else might?

Model organisms like E. coli are still frustratingly difficult to
engineer, even for professional biologists. "If amateurs can help make
biological engineering more reliable, I certainly would find that of
value," a graduate student remarked, half-jokingly. "I would think
that amateurs would prefer to experiment with organisms that can be
more readily inspected without expensive instruments," said another.
"Forget E. coli. They're too microscopic. How about a plant, like
moss?"

Jason cautioned that not everyone is ready to embrace a DIY biotech
culture. In NYC, a proposal is currently under review that would make
possession of environmental sensing devices a potential criminal
offense. Tom Knight, an MIT professor and open source biology
advocate, reminded the crowd of the recent attempt to prosecute artist
Steve Kurtz for his home biology projects. "Is biological engineering
fundamentally more dangerous than the risks posed by other fields,
such as mechanical engineering?" asked John Cumbers, a graduate
student at Brown University.

Mac proposed organizing a Boston-based bio-workshop for sharing
equipment, space, and other resources. He flashed a few screenshots of
Techshop, a west coast organization that has established nine shared
workspaces for amateur technologists. "This same model could work for
biotechnology hobbyists," he added.

-Jason Bobe
Report from the 1st DIYbio.org meet-up
Thursday May 1st, 2008
Asgard's Pub (Cambridge, MA)
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