1300+ amateur biologists around the world

- scientists, inventors, artists, educators...

- inventing “lo-fi” molecular biology

- bridging the gap between science & society

- broad interest in public, open work

other8%

art15%

business16%

tinkering29%

research32%

why are you interested in biotech?

! " # $ " % % & ' ( " ) *

+ " # , % - & + & # . " ) $ + , % /

reinforcing positive culture via diybio.org

- establish transparency & safety norms

- biosafey & legal tools, guidelines

- support public lab & tool development

- organize positive community projects (BWM)

uninterested11%

neutral5%

interested84%

are you interested in working in public?

source: diybio 2010 survey

3

1. expert “biohackers” (5%) & “newbie” amateurs + hobbyists (95%)

2. entrepreneurs3. artists

4. educators5. journalists6. policy makers

! " # $ " % % & ' ( " ) *

+ " # , % - & + & # . " ) $ + , % /

diybio mailing list users

capabilities

users (undergraduate level)DNA purification culturingPCRmutagensistransformationpart assembly

5%

makers (grad level)1%

talkers94%

May 2010 - http://diybio.org/local

a growing community

that wants to play with biotechnology

developing lo-fi tools, techniques, and toys

! " # $ " % % & ' ( " ) *

+ " # , % - & + & # . " ) $ + , % /

why ?

science asculture

new tools & techniques

DNA is not scary.toys today,

tools tomorrow;

disruptive innovation.

“I see a close analogy between John von Neumann's blinkered vision

of computers as large centralized facilities and the public perception

of genetic engineering today as an activity of large pharmaceutical and

agribusiness corporations such as Monsanto. The public distrusts

Monsanto because Monsanto likes to put genes for poisonous

pesticides into food crops, just as we distrusted von Neumann

because he liked to use his computer for designing hydrogen bombs

secretly at midnight. It is likely that genetic engineering will

remain unpopular and controversial so long as it

remains a centralized activity in the hands of large

corporations.”

“

”

We are attuned in the deepest parts of our being to nature, to our original surroundings and our

original condition as humankind. We have a familiarity with nature, a reliance on it that comes from

three million years of at-homeness with it. We trust nature.

When we happen upon a technology such as stemcell regenerative therapy, we experience hope. But

we also immediately ask how natural this technology is. And so we are caught between two huge

and unconscious forces: Our deepest hope as humans lies in technology; but our

deepest trust lies in nature. These forces are like tectonic plates grinding

inexorably into each other in one long, slow collision.

The collision is not new, but more than anything else it is defining our era. Technology is steadily

creating the dominant issues and upheavals of our time. We are moving from an era where machines

enhanced the natural—speeded our movements, saved our sweat, stitched our clothing—to one

that brings in technologies that resemble or replace the natural—genetic engineering, artificial

intelligence, medical devices implanted in our bodies. As we learn to use these technologies, we are

moving from using nature to intervening directly within nature. And so the story of this century will

be about the clash between what technology offers and what we feel comfortable with.

W. Brian Arthur:

“

”

9

This was then centrifuged at room temperature for 3 minutes @ 8000 rpm.

Discard 900 micro ml of the supernatant and dissolve pellets in remaining 100 micro ml. Spreading helps ensure that you will be able to pick out a single colony.

These were then spread on LB Agar plates containing 100 micro grams per ml Ampicillin.

7

Put the gel along with the casting plate in a tank with TAE, EtBr at the same concentration can be added.

The gel must be completely covered by TAE and placed such that the wells are at the end electrode passing negative charge.

Procedure

molecular weight blue dye.

In the same way now inject the DNA samples mixed with the blue dye into the other wells.

Now a current is applied, about 100V for 30 minutes.

Lastly place the slab of gel on a UV light box and observe.

One can also capture a digital image of the same

Gel Electrophoresis Chamber

Heater

Lab-as-a-Service Synthetic Biology tools

DIY equiptment & techniques

nologies used in protein structure determination show

similar trends (Figure 2), suggesting a general rapid im-

provement of biological technologies. As a reference,

Moore’s Law, which describes the doubling time of the

number of transistors on microchips, is also shown in

Figure 1.

Comparing anything to Moore’s Law is already a

cliché, but doing so remains a useful device to gauge our

expectations of how other technologies will affect so-

cioeconomic change. This comparison starts with the ob-

servation that chip doubling times are a consequence of

the planning intrinsic to the semiconductor and computer

industry.3 Moore’s Law is primarily a function of the

capital cost and resource allocation necessary to build

chip fabrication plants. In addition, for much of the last

thirty years there was feedback between the ability to de-

sign new chips and the computational power of the chips

used in the design process.

We can now see the beginnings of a similar effect in

the development of biological technologies. For exam-

ple, enzymes optimized for laboratory conditions are

used in the preparation of DNA for sequencing, where

earlier sequencing technologies were part of characteriz-

ing and modifying those enzymes. Recombinant proteins

are used every day to elucidate interactions between pro-

teins within organisms, and that information is already

being used to design and build new protein networks. En-

zymes are directly used in a process known as Pyrose-

CARLSON2

3Moore, G. Cramming more components onto integrated cir-

cuits. Electronics 1965. 38(8).

FIG. 1. On this semi-log plot, DNA synthesis and sequencing productivity are both increasing at least as fast as Moore?s Law

(upwards triangles). Each of the remaining points is the amount of DNA that can be processed by one person running multiple ma-

chines for one eight hour day, defined by the time required for pre-processing and sample handling on each instrument. Not in-

cluded in these estimates is the time required for sequence analysis. For comparison, the approximate rate at which a single mole-

cule of E. coli DNA Polymerase III replicates DNA is shown (dashed horizontal line), referenced to an eight-hour day.

Sample processing time and cycle time per run for instruments in production are based on the experience of the scientific staff

of the Molecular Sciences Institute and on estimates provided by manufacturers. ABI synthesis and sequencing data and Intel tran-

sistor data courtesy of those corporations. Pyrosequencing data courtesy of Mostafa Ronaghi at the Stanford Genome Technology

Center. GeneWriter data courtesy of Glen Evans, Egea Biosciences. Projections are based on instruments under development.

1

SYNTHETIC

BIOLOGY

FOR

ARTISTS &

dESIGNERS

why now ?

what’s going on now?

pGlo kit

$111?

Hard to purchase w/o academic affiliation

DNA Explorer, $80?

(Ages 10 and up)

www.discovery.com

no longer available :(

bioweathermaps

bioweathermaps• crowdsourced sampling + funding for metagenomics

•volunteer microbial biosurveilance

•Launched at GET2010 (April)

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culturing bioluminescentmarine microbes

bit.ly/diybio-squid

Rapid-Prototyped centrifuge spindle

algae photobioreactor

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$50? spin-off from biofuel startup

Pearl Gel Box (v.2)- $499

$100 2-axis microscope

... and DIY microfluidics

$30 microbial fuel cellgeneratesmicroamps @0.3 voltsfrom natural soil microbes

Known  as  the -­‐

,  Geobacter species  have  

compounds  and  use  them  in  a  way  

similar  to  the  way  humans  use  

oxygen.

Shewanella can  be  found  

almost  everywhere on  earth,  from  

mountain  soils,  to  ocean  

sediments.      It  has  an  ability  to  

metabolize  a  wide  variety  of  

elements  that  are  toxic  to  humans,  

humans  or  other  animals.  It  even  

has  the  ability  to  metabolize

Uranium,  precipitating  it  out  of  

contaminated  waters.    

Microbial  Fuel  Cell  KitsDirt  Power!

Fill  it  up  with  dirt  from  your  backyard  and  whatever  you  find  

in  your  refrigerator  and  see  how  much  power  you  can  get!

Great  educational  tool  for  kids  and  kids  at  heart!

Shewanella(aka    Mr.  Clean)

Geobacter(aka  The  Iron-­‐breather)

Microbial  fuel  cells  (MFCs)  are  bio-­‐electrical  devices  that  harness  

the  natural  metabolisms  of  microbes  to  produce  electrical  power  

directly.    Within  the  MFC,  microbes  act  as  a  catalyst  to  break  down  

sugars  and  other  nutrients  in  their  surrounding  environment  and  

release  a  portion  of  the  energy  contained  within  those  molecules  

in  the  form  of  electricity.

What  the  heck  is  a  microbial  fuel  cell?

Learn

Compete

Develop

Get  Published

in  our  International  Dirt  Power  Competition.  

the  technology  by  submitting  data  to  our  online  database.

with    our  online  publication,  presenting  

data  collected  all  around  the  world.    Your  name  will  be  on  it!

Key  Players:(Discounted  classroom packages  available,  including  

educational  material  and  pre-­‐designed  curriculum)

about  the  extraordinary  abilities  of  microbes  in  your  backyard.

SpikerBox $120 neuron recorder

LavaAmp - $200 rapid pcr machine

OpenPCR $400 open source PCR thermocycler

what’s happened?mostly hardware development

- open source & patented

- several startups formed - $10,000+ in crowdsourced funding

fun & easy wetware

- bioluminescent microbes

- yogurt-hacking - genotyping

one academic conference (Jan 2010)

formation of several public lab spaces

lots of news

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rapid prototyping toys?

who invents

enables tinkering (rapid prototyping)

with electronics

enabling tinkering with biology

! " # $ " % % & ' ( " ) *

+ " # , % - & + & # . " ) $ + , % /

two paths to new tools

refactoring existing tools

- cheaper

- more open

- more fun

- simpler (more limited)

inventing newtools (“toys”*) prioritizing

tinkering & play

over significance & accuracy

blinky LED tutorial

new market for biotech tinkering tools

*

negative framing by the media“Many a computer business has started in a garage or a teenager's bedroom. So, though, has many a computer virus. And where computing led, biotechnology may follow.” Economist, Sept. 2, 2006

“The Dr. Strangelove of the 21st century may well be a biohacker.” The Sunday Telegraph, December 24, 2006.

“…with DNA hacking far more widespread, what if your friendly local terrorist decided to take up the hobby?” The Times (London), Sept. 16, 2006.

“Welcome to the age of synthesized life, built from scratch. Soon, it may be so cheap and simple a teen hacker could do it. Or a terrorist.” 2005 The Globe and Mail (Canada)

“What's available to idealistic students, of course, would also be available to terrorists.” 2009, The New Yorker

What kinds of organisms will scientists, terrorists and other creative individuals make? 2007, Washington Post

“The ability to create nasty pathogens like your hybrid rabies virus in your bathroom is becoming easier and easier…this is much easier than trying to get enough fissile material to make a nuclear bomb…” 2009, Homeland Security Today.

diybio.org + Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (synbioproject.org)

1-year grant to develop a long-term roadmap to a positive culture of safety within diybio worldwide, funded by Alfred P. Sloan foundation.

objectives (want to help?)

1) define the diybio community

- define a baseline to track +/- trends & control hype

2) inventory existing ethical codes of conduct

- hobbyist & “maker” codes; hacker ethic; igem, RCR

3) identify potential risks posed by diybio

- to amateurs, mainstream science, and public at large

4) develop preliminary biosafety guidance

- adapted from EHS, NIH and other professional sources

5) mobilize & celebrate biosafety “champions” within community

- work with existing groups to build & demonstrate safety ethic

a growing community:

that wants to play with biotechnology

developing lo-fi tools, techniques, and toys

! " # $ " % % & ' ( " ) *

+ " # , % - & + & # . " ) $ + , % /

a growing community:increasing human capital in biotechnology

smoothing the interface between science & society

that wants to play with biotechnologyincreasing public awareness and understanding

developing lo-fi tools, techniques, and toysprotoyping tools & disruptive technologies

for biotechnology

! " # $ " % % & ' ( " ) *

+ " # , % - & + & # . " ) $ + , % /

other8%

art15%

business16%

tinkering29%

research32%

why are you interested in biotech?

- public blog

- build safety & legal resources

- promote transparency & outreach

- organize positive community projects (BWM)

uninterested11%

neutral5%

interested84%

are you interested in working in public?

source: diybio 2010 survey

want to collaborate?

contact@diybio.org

! " # $ " % % & ' ( " ) *

+ " # , % - & + & # . " ) $ + , % /

.org

BangaloreBostonChicago

Los AngelesLondon

New York CitySan Francisco

SeattleHouston

...! " # $ " % % & ' ( " ) *

+ " # , % - & + & # . " ) $ + , % /

.org