Do it yourself Biology

 

Exam 2 blog
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/17/science/for-bio-hackers-lab-work-often-begins-at-home.html?ref=biologyandbiochemistry
DIY Bio

Do it youself biology has grown exponentially in recent years. A specfic site DIYBio.org has over 2,000 active members already, and this is just one of the many. For example Genspace, a nonprofit laboratory in Brooklyn that is open to members of the public, regardless of scientific background. Since it opened in 2010, on the seventh floor of an old bank building, similar labs have sprouted in Boston and San Francisco. These labs are growing all around the country for people to try their own things and give their own ideas a shot for the time ever. The cost? It is $100 a month to go this one and its for consumables, like chemicals.

This is a picture of some amateur scientists working at Genspace in Brooklyn.

 

 

In the aspect of citizen science there is a man who clearly sticks out amongst the crowd, Cathal Garvery.  Mr. Garvey, a 26-year-old geneticist who worked in a cancer research center for about four years after earning a graduate degree. He is perhaps best known for inventing the DremelFuge, a small centrifuge that can be fabricated by a 3-D printer. His plans are freely available online, so anybody who has the desire and the resources to make one can do so. He and other well known scientists are leading the cause of DIYBio to give everyone a chance. http://diybio.org/

 

The idea to this madness you might say? Well the thought of a journalist, Daniel Grushkin, in Brooklyn "If you get as many brains as possible working collaboratively on biotechnology, you might get a really good idea.” Grushkin was also a key founder of Genspace. However some worry that amateurs doing their own biology could create both deliberate bioterrorism and the unintentional creation of a deadly disease. But making a new and virulent pathogen is far from easy.

However Genspace has a strict policy against working with anything that can infect humans, and it has established a safety review board of experts from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the United States Department of Health and Human Services and other institutions to approve proposals for new experiments. This makes everything controlled and doesn't allow for that one individual to ruin it for the group.

 



This picture is of a homemade centrifuge like one created by citizen scientists to do their own lab work and not have the cost of a ridiculous bill.

 

There are many how to do guides online. http://boingboing.net/2010/03/02/inexpensive-gene-cop.html for example shows how to make a working gene copier used for molecular biology. Before these ideas came out this was thought to be out of the realm of what was capable at your home, scientifically speaking.

 

There are many other sites just like this one, maybe not as popular but growing. DIY Biology is becoming a sensation as people begin to realize not only the thrill but its benefits. This idea can potentially benefit all of mankind. My opinion is that as long as everything is monitered and watched carefully there is absolutely no harm in attempts by anyone to try and benefit mankind.