I want to Biohack! Thing is I just completed high school(A levels)

[Azra Abdi]

I want to do biomedical engineering and this whole biohack thing is just what I was looking for. Thing is I just finished high school, I can afford some of the equipment using cash from my part time job but my problem is that you all seem to be degree holders and know what you're doing, so was hoping someone could help me get started. There are no biohackers that I know of here in kenya and was thinking of involving a classmate of mine to help.

Thanks

[Mega [Andreas Stuermer]]

What do you have in mind? Growing bacteria, or actually genetically engineering them?

[SC]

Hi Azra,

Welcome!  None of us were born knowing how to do this.  We bumbled along until we learned, just as you will do.

Do you have a project in mind?  Or would you like to try some basic things to start with?

Stacy

 

[Kit Martens]

I'm in a very similar position, except I'm already finished my first year of university. Maybe we could team up? We could do shared projects and discuss the results.

Cheers!

[Critical Supremacy]

If you guys do team up and work out projects together, keep us in the know for posterity and curiosity's sake.

[Jaime Sotomayor]

Hi guys,

If it is of any help. My company has this forum (https://forum.arcturus.io/) where people are co-creating their next experiments. Might come useful to get info, start a project or join one. 

Cheers,

Jaime

[Shubham Goyal]

Hi Kit and Azra,

I would also like to team up and find my way together. I have a degree in computer science and a lot of experience building software with some experience building hardware. But I am increasingly interested in diybio :-)

Thanks.

Warmest Regards,

Shubham.

--
-- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups DIYbio group. To post to this group, send email to diy...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to diybio+un...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at https://groups.google.com/d/forum/diybio?hl=en
Learn more at www.diybio.org
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "DIYbio" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to diybio+un...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to diy...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/diybio.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/diybio/d21c2069-a075-43ec-abcc-76de9b32eb48%40googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[Nico B.]

Hey Azra,

I'm recent to the whole premise of biohacking as well. I came as an artist with a background in education and engineering... all things bio were completely foreign to me.

I don't imagine that there is much of a hacker community in kenya, and honestly that is how I feel I have been able to learn so quickly. I'm in the San Francisco bay area and there are 3 hacker spaces which makes for lots of support... regardless I think the key is finding the support either (preferably) near or as part of the online community.

but more importantly I think its all about your motivation factor and the project you choose. I've been working over a year on a project regarding phytoremediation and water decontamination and keep interested because its one of those things that just effects everyone. From my experience, the best way to get into it is to choose a real world problem you are passionate about solving, and keep researching until you find viable biotech solutions through the arts of brainstorming and research. Once you work your way through the problem from a mental standpoint and become more familiarized with processes, you read protocols and get an idea for what it takes, email professors in the area, people with phds, or anyone near you working on similar projects and offer help to get the hands on experience that applies to your idea or concept. make contacts with people who, maybe aren't doing exactly what you want to do, but the tools are nearly ubiquitous (to my very basic understanding) and the important part is getting experience doing the work in any capacity.

after 9 months of being a lab slave, I've done quite a few plant and bacterial transformations, am starting to understand coding, started plasmid engineering, and now know the tools to start projects of my own.

Be a lab slave to anyone open to the idea. soak up their knowledge and expertise. mentorships are the way to go!

Thats my advice. Pick an idea, find someone who needs help on their project, and develop your own experiments as you get an idea for the flow!

On Monday, June 29, 2015 at 3:34:50 PM UTC-7, Azra Abdi wrote:

[Kit Martens]

Project idea:

Create a more resilient grain plant with all the essential amino acids and make it available to the public. With companies like monsanto cornering the market with their seeds and taking advantage of farmers, something needs to be done. Perhaps engineering a better grain plant for free and making it available is a good solution. THe first thing we'd need to do is agree on the plant we're going to work on. 

On Monday, June 29, 2015 at 3:34:50 PM UTC-7, Azra Abdi wrote:

[Nico B.]

Plants, sure. I'd also put focus to further defining "resilience." start with one gene (whether that be for heavy metal resistance, salt tolerance, etc.) and build from there. Really define what sort of traits you would like to express in the plants and for what function. from there read read read!! Build yourself a 'library' of genes you come across while reading papers on crop resilience. ... And keep your mind open to what you're reading and don't be afraid to delineate to other aspects of biology or transformations. 

I wouldn't put the cap on what plant to work on quite yet... before you make any decisions or start experiments do your homework. You'll probably find that you want to first get experience with model organisms for transformations, I'd think maize or tobacco because they have been extensively studied. Start off wetlab work with proven protocols and prove to yourself that you can first replicate other's work before starting your own experiments. Design 'em as you go along, but you'll see the ideas take more specific shape the longer you've been in it. Check out http://diybio.org/local/ to see if there is a hackerspace around you. plug in with the existing projects and learn the basics, and be patient! Ask for help and you'll probably get it.

Look into plant transformations, golden braid cloning, and agrobacteria mediated transformations.. there are papers out there on phytoremediaiton that could give you interesting ideas into tolerance of condition XYZ.. Also familiarize yourself with the concepts of PCR, primers, restriction enzymes, the tools and machines you'll need (autoclave, centerfuge, incubators, shakers, water baths, spectrophotometers, etc.) or ways you can get around using them or even build your own. 

[Critical Supremacy]

You might want to take care while working with plants, though. While working with bacteria you can afford to create whatever Frankenstein-esk creature you can make, since it will be confined within the confines of your lab.
Have fun keeping track of the ecological impact your plant will have if you ever plant it in a field, though.

[Azra Abdi]

Hey Mega [Andreas Stuermer],
I am more interested in genetically engineering them but culturing will also be interesting.
Was thinking of something like inserting the luciferin gene into a plant to make it glow but I'm not sure I'd be able to do that at home. Any advice? Also I got offered a free culturing starter kit so is there a way i could use that for stuff other than culturing.

Thank you

[Azra Abdi]

Hey Kit Martens,
sorry for the late reply. I'd love that! Could you email me?

[Azra Abdi]

Hey Jaime Sotomayor,

Thank you :)

[Mega [Andreas Stuermer]]

You can start by taking pVIB plasmid and put it into E. coli. Pretty easy experiment, 10$ from Carolina Biological supply.