About
UserAgreement
Bylaws
Stewards
Members
Contact
Newsletter
Announcements
Tweets
Podcast
Book
Film
Gallery
Videos
Library
Links
Quiz
Become A Member
Donate
Store
Writers
₮hank$
Grants
Members Map
Connect
As Synthetic Biology Becomes Affordable, Amateur Labs Thrive
By Carolyn Y. Johnson
THE BOSTON GLOBE
September 16, 2008
In a third-floor loft where programmers build Internet start-ups, Mackenzie Cowell is talking about the tools he and like-minded young colleagues are using to fuel what they hope will be the next big thing in biology. The list includes a cut-up Charlie Card, ingredients bought on eBay to make a kind of scientific Jell-O, and a refrigerator, just scored on Craigslist.com, that chills to 80 degrees below zero.
Cowell is part of an effort called DIYbio — short for do-it-yourself biology — that aims to move science into the hands of hobbyists. It is starting by holding sessions where amateurs extract DNA, and attempt genetic fingerprinting using common household items and the kitchen sink.
“It shows you how much science can be about duct tape and having a few screws in the right place,” Cowell said. “It shatters that clinical image.”
What Cowell and crew hope to achieve is a democratization of science that could propel the field of biology into the mainstream, much as computer hackers fueled computer development a generation ago. After all, Silicon Valley’s Homebrew Computer Club played a part in the personal computer industry and counts Apple Inc. founders among its attendees; Cowell would like DIYbio to be the Homebrew Club of Biology.
Cowell and his mostly 20-something friends are on a mission that seems inevitable to them, and is beginning to spark the attention, interest — and sometimes safety concern — of professional scientists. The recent shutdown of a lab in a retired chemist’s home in Marlborough focused attention on the question of safety and the regulation of citizen scientists.
The idea of doing useful science at home isn’t new. Backyard stargazers have long made contributions to astronomy. Bird-watchers participate in a wildlife census.
Now, enter the biohacker.
The movement is getting much of its steam from synthetic biology, a field of science that seeks to make working with cells and genes more like building circuits by creating standardized biological parts. The dream, already playing out in the annual International Genetically Engineered Machine competition at MIT, is that biology novices could browse a catalog of ready-made biological parts and use them to create customized organisms. Technological advances have made it quite simple to insert genes into bacteria to give them the ability to, for example, detect arsenic or produce vitamins.
“This follows in the heels of enormous American enthusiasm for invention that carries on in each generation,” said Scott Mohr, a Boston University chemist who is writing a primer on synthetic biology.
“This is part of the same cycle: You go out there, you’re an inventor, and you build mechanical stuff — my dad did that,” Mohr said. “You go into computer programming and write viruses and video games. Those are the parents and older brothers of people who are going to do something even more thrilling” — experiments with living things.
But the work also raises fears that people could create a deadly microbe on purpose, just as computer hackers have unleashed crippling viruses or broken into government websites.
There is little formal regulation specifically for home labs. The state Department of Environmental Protection requires permits for businesses that create hazardous waste. Cambridge was the first city in the nation to pass a law regulating DNA research more than three decades ago, but it was intended to regulate professional scientists at universities and businesses, not individuals.
Still, authorities have discretion to act if they suspect wrongdoing. In 2004, Buffalo art professor Steve Kurtz was arrested and investigated as a possible bioterrorist because petri dishes and laboratory equipment were found in his home in upstate New York, after his wife had died of a heart attack.
Tom Knight, a senior research scientist at MIT who is cofounding a synthetic biology company called Ginkgo BioWorks, sees the transformative value of biohacking — the phrase used to describe doing to living organisms what computer hackers have long done with electronics. But he has reservations about putting such power into the hands of amateurs.
“I think if the safety issues can be addressed, there is a big opportunity,” Knight said. “It’s a huge issue; how do you regulate so [people] don’t cause havoc.”
The promises and risks of biohackery were addressed in a paper this summer in the new journal Systems and Synthetic Biology. “A young crowd of enthusiastic biohackers … may spark a wave of innovation,” wrote the coordinator of a European task force examining the implications of synthetic biology. But he cautioned that amateurs who don’t adhere to a professional code of conduct and lack sufficient safety training raise the specter of biosafety and security risks.
The clash between the potential benefits and dangers of doing home science were highlighted by the case of Victor Deeb. The retired 71-year-old chemist in Marlborough saw his basement lab dismantled by authorities this summer after it was noticed by fire officials putting out a second-floor air conditioner fire.
The state DEP said officials intervened in Deeb’s workspace because it did not meet lab standards. Chemical companies shipping Deeb their materials were unaware that they were shipping to a residence, authorities said.
Deeb, who said he was trying to make safer surface coatings for food containers, insists that the chemicals he was using were less hazardous than common cleaners and household chemicals. He questions why his hobby was seen as more dangerous than, for example, a hunter with a gun collection, or a person using a propane grill.
“The more I tried to explain, the more they thought I was a lunatic,” Deeb said, questioning why he should need permits to tinker in his basement.
Not far from the loft where Cowell is trying to hatch his grass-roots scientific revolution, a group of synthetic biologists at MIT — whose business cards identify them as DNA hackers — are working with Knight to create a resource that could bring sophisticated biology techniques within reach of amateurs.
The company plans to provide standardized biological parts to biotech companies or clean fuel entrepreneurs, not casual garage scientists, but they see the excitement of what biohackers are trying to do. This summer, the company made a comic book-style protocol, with each frame showing how to do a bit of biological engineering, and brought it to a hacker expo, Foo Camp, where people made cells that smelled like banana or turned red.
“For us, it’s a continuum,” said Reshma Shetty, one of Ginkgo’s founders. “We can make it easier for newcomers and professors” to do biology, “and make it so people can start biotech companies in their basement, just like they can build a Web 2.0 company in their basement.” link
And here is another article talking about the same thing
The era of garage biology is upon us. Want to participate? Take a moment to buy yourself a molecular biology lab on eBay. A mere $1,000 will get you a set of precision pipettors for handling liquids and an electrophoresis rig for analyzing DNA. Side trips to sites like BestUse and LabX (two of my favorites) may be required to round out your purchases with graduated cylinders or a PCR thermocycler for amplifying DNA. If you can't afford a particular gizmo, just wait six months - the supply of used laboratory gear only gets better with time. Links to sought-after reagents and protocols can be found at DNAHack. And, of course, Google is no end of help.
Still, don't expect to cure cancer right away, surprise your loved ones with a stylish new feather goatee, or crank out a devilish frankenbug. (Instant bioterrorism is likely beyond your reach, too.) The goodies you buy online require practice to use properly. The necessary skills may be acquired through trial and error, studying online curricula, or taking a lab course at a community college. Although there are cookbook recipes for procedures to purify DNA or insert it into a bacterium, bench biology is not easy; the many molecular manipulations required to play with genes demand real skills.
Science, after all, involves doing things no one has done before, and it most often requires developing new art. But art can be learned, and, more important, this kind of art can be taught to robots. They excel at repetitive tasks requiring consistent precision, and an online search will uncover a wide variety of lab automation tools for sale. For a few hundred to a few thousand dollars, you can purchase boxy-looking robots with spindly arms that handle platefuls of samples, mix and distribute reagents - and make a fine martini. Some of the units are sophisticated enough that you can teach them all the new tricks published in fancy journals. Just make sure you have plenty of electrical outlets.
That said, actually manipulating a genome with your new tools requires learning something about software that helps design gene sequences. These bioinformatics programs are all over the Web, and in no time you'll be tweaking genome sequences on your computer late into the night. But while you may discover some interesting relationships between organisms, and with access to the right databases you may even find a connection between a mutation and a disease (no mean contribution, to be sure), the real work gets done at the lab bench.
If you want to get down and dirty bashing DNA, order genetic parts suitable for use in E. coli from the synthetic biology group at MIT (available soon). These genes constitute a library of defined components that can be assembled into control systems for biological computation, or used to program bacteria in order to produce interesting proteins and other compounds. There's even an online design tool for genetic circuits. If you're more into hacking plants - perhaps you want true plastic fruit growing on your tomato vine or apple tree - head to BioForge, where you can get expert info.
Concern that these resources can be used intentionally to create hazardous organisms is overblown. Relatively few labs possess all the necessary equipment for the task. Despite the recent demonstration of working viruses constructed from mail-order DNA, repeating those feats would be difficult.
Yet it is getting easier to synthesize whole genomes, particularly if your aims aren't sinister. Instead of trying to assemble a viral or bacterial genome yourself, you can order the whole sequence online from Blue Heron Biotechnology, where researchers will first check it for genes in known pathogens and toxins, and then, two to four weeks later, FedEx you the DNA. A few thousand dollars will buy a couple of genes, enough for a simple control circuit; soon it will buy most of a bacterial genome. And your Synthetic Biology@Home project will get easier when microfluidic DNA synthesizers hit the market. These have already been used to write sequences equivalent in size to small bacterial genomes, a capability currently limited to a few academic and industrial labs - but not for much longer.
The advent of garage biology is at hand. Skills and technology are proliferating, and the synthesis and manipulation of genomes are no longer confined to ivory towers. The technology has even reached the toy market: The Discovery DNA Explorer kit for kids 10 and older (see Wired, issue 11.12) is surprisingly functional at $80, and how long will it be before we see a Slashdot story about a Lego Mindstorms laboratory robot?
Sure, few high school students will be able to pay for this equipment with their earnings from Mickey D's, but anyone who spends a few thou on cars, boats, or computers can get to work hacking biology tomorrow.
Might it be possible that some day a cure for lung cancer might be found in the basement of an amaeur biology hobbyist? After all the first modern day personal computers were built in the garages of what later came to be known as Silicon Valley by people like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. On ebay right now there are 2 scanning electron microscopes selling for a mere 100 thousand dollars. How many of you would like to start a lab in your basement or garage? I know I would. Imagine synthesing your own drugs instead of buying them at massively overpriced prices. This is how were going to cure aging, some guy in his basement!
