What Should I Know?

[Travis Ireland]

    I'm in the process of renewing all of my high school level science and math, and have become fascinated with this movement. I'm concentrating right now on building electronics, but I think if I knew where to start with synthetic biology, I could do some real good there.

    I started reviewing biology on Khan Academy, specifically genetics and DNA. I also am trying to figure out how to use GenoCAD, although I haven't made much headway. If I wanted to really get into this stuff, what are suggestions for a good knowledge base?

[Ujjwal Thaakar]

Read The Process of Life by Hunter

[Brian Degger]

It's around $40

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[Alexey Zaytsev]

After Khan Academy, try 7.00x on EdX. It gets you from basic school
level up to stuff not all molecular biologists know.

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[Ujjwal Thaakar]

I second Alexey. I'm not sure about the price in your country but it's a book I highly recommend you to read. 7.x is also highly highly recommended. I got the book in India for like 5-6 dollars.

On Wed Nov 19 2014 at 18:36:09 Alexey Zaytsev <alexey....@gmail.com> wrote:

After Khan Academy, try 7.00x on EdX. It gets you from basic school
level up to stuff not all molecular biologists know.

On Wed, Nov 19, 2014 at 4:57 AM, Travis Ireland <traviz...@gmail.com> wrote:
>     I'm in the process of renewing all of my high school level science and
> math, and have become fascinated with this movement. I'm concentrating right
> now on building electronics, but I think if I knew where to start with
> synthetic biology, I could do some real good there.
>     I started reviewing biology on Khan Academy, specifically genetics and
> DNA. I also am trying to figure out how to use GenoCAD, although I haven't
> made much headway. If I wanted to really get into this stuff, what are
> suggestions for a good knowledge base?
>
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[Jean]

I would be happy to help you with GenoCAD. Did you look at the tutorial? 

[Nathan McCorkle]

Lab-focused courses at your local community college are the best
option for learning per unit of money.

I find it best to start looking for projects that interest you, then
ask questions, read more, refine your project interests/goals based on
your new understanding (you may learn your previous ideas were not
realistic, or that the amount/type of work it would really take to
achieve the goal is not interesting to you).

Please don't hesitate to ask questions here, we enjoy answering!

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-Nathan

[Mega [Andreas Stuermer]]

Nathan has a good point. Usually you don't simply learn genetic engineering, but you have a project you are passionate about and learn the genetic engineeing techniques on the way to achieve that goal. 

Wanna make biodiesel? Engineer Yeast to secret exoenzymes like cellulase etc to degrade wood? Wanna produce blue pigment yourself to dye your cloths? Produce insulin in plants? Glowing yogurt?

Whatever you are passionate about, let the project lead and teach you. Once you know the basic mechanism how to engineer an organism, you know how to engineer any (of course, different organism require different DNA delivery methods etc). 

[Justin]

Does anyone know much about this book? http://www.amazon.com/Synthetic-Biology-Primer-Geoff-Baldwin-ebook/dp/B008XCJ8VY/ref=dp_kinw_strp_1

During my Biotechnology Program I found this to be a very good and broad overview of all aspects of biotechnology if you find yourself interested in investigating what is out there besides synthetic biology. Though biotechnology is so broad that I don't know if any book can effectively give you a complete top down view of the entire landscape. This book is very accessible though and many concepts, tools, and techniques are taught at a basic level as needed. 

http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Biotechnology-2nd-William-Thieman/dp/0321491459/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1416424720&sr=1-10&keywords=biotechnology

Do you have access to a community lab in your area? If so definitely get involved. It can sometimes be frustrating to read a lot about these subjects, equip yourself with knowledge, only to have so many ideas for experiments or projects, but little knowledge on how to access the equipment and reagents you need.

If your passionate and you come up with an idea or experiment your interested in trying then I think this is a good place to post and figure out how you can embark on what your trying to do, and also get expertise. If you want to do your own hands on lab work I might start with a few very basic projects or experiments, even if they've been done time and time again. You may know what the results will be but making sure you can recreate those results are important because training your lab skills are as much a part of the learning process as basic knowledge. If you've ever learned a computer programming language then you know everyone starts with a "Hello World!" program. :-)

Also if you decide to tinker on your own, possibly because a community lab is not accessible to you, please make sure to make lab safety a centerpiece of your exploration. Make sure you know how to read and understand MSDS for reagents you work with. Many chemicals used in this field can be toxic or carcinogenic but are quite safe when handled properly. If you start working with a new chemical or reagent you haven't worked with before make sure you don't simply see it as just another ingredient. Take the time to understand it for the unique individual component it actually is imbued with its own unique characters and properties distinct from all other chemicals. 

Best Regards,

-Justin

[Nico B.]

I'm maybe 4-5 months into any experience with synbio/biohacking. I have a few projects I'm now working on and in the running for some funding through the indieb.io accelerator program for one of 'em. I think the most critical resource you could have would be finding a biohacking space near you and just talking to the people who are working on stuff. Offer to help just to get experience with basic techniques of molecular biology. it will streamline your understanding like you wouldn't believe. If you really want to get into it, spend time with people who are actively part of the movement. Everyone I have met has been astoundingly supportive and willing to teach everything they know.

there are some good resources on ItunesU. Even though some of them are dated, supposedly not much has changed between current texts and those that came out in the early 90s/late 80s. 

But as it has been said here already, I think the best way to get a real understanding is by working on a project idea, doing the research, learning the terminology, reading papers, and wrapping your head around the process. the best way to learn is by just doing it.

On Tuesday, November 18, 2014 7:57:40 PM UTC-8, Travis Ireland wrote:

[Travis Ireland]

Wow, thank you for the replies, everyone. Going to order those books when I get paid.

On Tuesday, November 18, 2014 9:57:40 PM UTC-6, Travis Ireland wrote:

[Travis Ireland]

I did a couple weeks ago. Got partway through, am doing it again right now. It's that I don't know what any of the parts are or their purpose. I suppose that's just part of the learning process, though...

[Travis Ireland]

Just finished the basic tutorial. Feel confident in the program's use. Going to see if the other tutorials will allow me to make sense of what I'm doing.

On Wednesday, November 19, 2014 11:23:28 AM UTC-6, Jean wrote: