Biohacking 101 - What do you think of this script?

[QDragon Leet]

As you may know i'm working on a video series BiohaX. Production has been a bit slow but i finally have episode 1 written. I'd really like this to be a community effort so the script is here for your review before filming. Any constructive criticism, comments and ideas are welcome. And i'm still looking for volunteers to help researching the rest of the series, feel free to contact me. - dr.qd...@gmail.com

Hello and welcome to the first episode of BiohaX, before we get into all the cool biohacking stuff it’s important to know some basic terms.

Biotechnology - is a pretty broad term. It can generally encompass any technology involving an organism or biological process. Humans will manipulate biology through various methods, some of which we’ll get into in this series, in order to accomplish something. Things like producing drugs, fuels, material, are some common uses of biotechnology that you may have already heard.

Genetic Engineering - is as you probably know, human manipulation of another organisms DNA. Now that actually includes artificial selection, which humans have been using for thousands of years. Selectively breeding plants or animals to enhance desirable traits, as well as eliminating undesirable traits. This process is difficult and extremely time consuming, and can only act upon traits that naturally occur within the population of organisms. Then there’s the direct genetic modification of an organism, this is only possible with relatively recently developed technology. Genes can be actively silenced and most importantly, entirely foreign genes can be introduced into an organism. This process is quick and direct compared to selective breeding, and allows for combinations of traits that would never occur naturally.

Synthetic Biology - has a few varying definitions. For 1 it can refer to essentially replicating an abiogenesis like process, in the hopes of generating a biological system from scratch. Another definition is the act of making an existing organisms genome with a DNA synthesis machine. However for our purposes within the context of the series the best definition is this; synthetic biology is genetic engineering with extra engineering. To elaborate, older genetic engineering was quite complicated, attempting to cut a particular gene from one organism and then insert it into another. Synthetic biology takes those methods and adds principles associated with more established forms of engineering. As well as greater use of machine synthesizer DNA. These engineering principles are mainly abstraction and standardization, basically making genetic modification more user friendly. We often talk about DNA as a code but the truth is humans are now just making it a code. Taking knowledge of genetics and making standard components, functional sequences that can be connected to form novel biological devices.

Biohacking - as a term is not extremely well defined, but here is a pretty apt summary. Biohacking, also known as DIYbio, is the development and use of biological technology by citizen scientists. Taking open source ideas normally associated with software and applying them to the growing field of biotechnology. And this is only possible through advances in computer hardware and software, as well as the previously mentioned standardization that comes with synthetic biology. Hacking can have a negative connotation, but it really means tinkering, using this new and growing area of technology to create new and interesting things.

Now that we have those definitions we should discuss some of the implications of biohacking. A major issue people will often bring up is that of safety. Generally speaking, and especially within the context of this series, biohacking mainly applies to microbiology. For beginners, making simple if interesting modifications to microorganisms like bacteria, yeast and algae. The most impressive accomplishments of biohacking are only possible through community effort, either locally or online. And the community certainly has safety as a top priority, and will be part of this series. BiohaX will hopefully serve as a beginners guide, giving you a foundation of knowledge to get involved yourself. And time and money permitting, give you some tutorials on basic procedures.

We hope you have enjoyed this first episode, please share this if you enjoyed it and you are looking forward to the rest of the series. And it’s a community effort so feel free to contact us if you would like to contribute to the series. 

[Meow-Ludo]

Biotechnology - is a pretty broad term. It can generally encompass any technology involving an organism or biological process. Humans will manipulate biology through various methods, some of which we’ll get into in this series, in order to accomplish something. Things like producing drugs, fuels, material, are some common uses of biotechnology that you may have already heard.

I think it would be really good to add in some things that the ordinary person would be familiar with to reinforce that they exposed to this everyday. Laundry powders are filled with mutated enzymes. These have been designed using site-directed mutagenesis to allow them to work in the presence of bleach and other conditions. Saying to people that the use products from the bio-tech industry on a daily basis may allow them to see that these things are not only common and useful, but also harmless. A big problem in the public awereness of biotech is that people think 'frankenstein' instead of washing powder when they hear GMO.

Just a thought. 

[QDragon Leet]

@Meow-Ludo it's a good idea but i think that common uses/dispelling myths will be it's own episode, or segment of 1

please list other examples you have though 

[Mega]

That's great.

Yeah, maybe you could just mention the washing powder in a few words, the more often people hear it, the better.
And then add that there will be an entire episode of this...

[QDragon Leet]

could you send me more information on it?

i'll definitely try incorporating it into a segment 

[Mega]

What about this one:

http://www.blurtit.com/q258694.html

Her also more in general...

http://www.eubios.info/SG/SG7.htm

[QDragon Leet]

@tim.ford i feel like that's missing the point somewhat, examples of the technology are good but i also don't want to risk sensationalizing it

attracted new people would be nice but the priority is educating beginners wanting to get involved 

[Bryan Bishop]

On Mon, Jul 16, 2012 at 10:11 PM, QDragon Leet <dr.qd...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hello and welcome to the first episode of BiohaX, before we get into all the cool biohacking stuff it’s important to know some basic terms.

Well, now that you have written it down, you don't have to make a video. Congrats, Mr. Leet.

--
- Bryan
http://heybryan.org/
1 512 203 0507

[Meow-Ludo]

I think that Tim raises a really valid point. I have done stand up comedy and one of the first things that I learned was to make them laugh in the first six seconds. If you did this, they would listen to your entire routine happily. If you use this first episode to grab their attention and leave them wanting to know more, you will get even more people watching the second and third video because you have them hooked.

When Tim says think 'Mythbusters' it is important. It is a show that has a huge following and is successful because it emphasises a lot of the points that he outlined. They have explosions and fire and don't get bogged down with the schematics of what they do. In short, it is enjoyable to watch even if you know nothing about science. And if you do know lots about science you still enjoy it because you can fill in the blanks yourself.

[QDragon Leet]

@Meow-Ludo the problem is, the intended audience of this series doesn't have the background knowledge 

i love Mythbusters and the fact they get people excited about science, but they're not highly educational (which BiohaX is supposed to be)

now i'd love to make a flashy, exciting episode 0 like what you're describing 

but for that i'd need more direct help, working with limited time and resources so education gets the priority 

any volunteers?