Realities of Biohacking in a UK home lab

[Dave Jenkins]

Hi,

I am interested in getting involved in biohacking in the UK, but the extent of my knowledge in genetics is an A Level in Biology, so I am a complete beginner.

Given my time constraints, I could probably only spend significant time biohacking, if I could do so from home. So I had a very fuzzy plan to create a home laboratory (fuzzy because I have no real idea of what that would entail).

However, I have been doing some reading recently and it seems that very little can be done in a home lab in the UK, due to regulations.

I am really trying to get a feel for whether there would be sufficient, interesting science that I could do in a home lab, to make it worth my while setting one up. I'm finding this difficult because I lack sufficient knowledge of what can be theoretically be done, and what is actually limited by regulation.

As I currently understand it, the regulations allow you to extract genetic material, but not to modify it, or use it to modify the genes of an organism. Is that a fair high level assessment?

I wonder if anybody could please advise whether an motivated beginner who wants ongoing, interesting, challenges could get much out of biohacking in a UK home lab.

Any input would be much appreciated.

[Mega [Andreas Stuermer]]

Hi! 

I don' t know the exact regulations in England, but.... Nearly everywhere in Europe you mustn't produce GMOs. You can insert non-foreign DNA into E.Coli though. Like LacZ to yield a blue colour. 

Given your time and resources, you could do synthetic biology though. writing DNA sequences (e.g. to produce a blue pigment in white carnations to turn them blue), and you then synthesize it for ~500$ or 1000$  and attend an S1 lab where you insert it into a plant. 

[Dakota Hamill]

Hi Dave, regulation and law talk aside, what is your background? What
age range are you? Are you done with high school, university? I
don't know what A level is.

Starting a lab can be tough, many of us have spent years trying to
slowly put things together, and will probably spend many more. That
being said, it shouldn't deter you, many things can be had on the
cheap or improvised. It all depends on what you want to do really,
and I know it's frustrating when people say that, but it's true.
Sometimes its nice for people to tell you exactly what to do, and
exactly what you need to do it. On the other hand, the spirit of
science is blazing your own trail, using skills and techniques you've
acquired to do your own unique research.

For now do some brainstorming and figure out what you'd like to do.
Put aside any limitations you feel might exist due to equipment or
lack of knowledge, and just be creative.

Want to make a bacteria that swims in the oceans and feeds on crude oil?
Want to make a plant that glows in the presence of heavy metals?
Want to make a virus that kills skin cancer and releases floral scents
while it does so?

All crazy ideas, some impractical, but sometimes thinking up the most
insane things possible can start you on the path to making something
insane, but still possible, and useful.

Read through the iGEM team projects and look at all the sweet things
they were able to do, then work backwards on a project that interests
you.

Obviously some idea of how DNA is turned into proteins will help, but
the science can come after. It's actually easier to learn the science
to pursue an idea you have than sometimes coming up with the actual
idea.

I know many chemists that turned into biologists step by step, and
vice versa. None had the complete knowledge of the other field
because they never studied it, but you can use the knowledge you do
have, and with a lot of reading, learn the science you don't yet know.

I don't know, give us an idea of what it is you want to do.

I understand where you are coming from and hope to have a remedy for
it soon. I quit my job and am going to work full time on DIY research
and trying to make that possible for others as well.

[Dave Jenkins]

Hi Andreas.

Thanks for clarifying about production of GMOs. I also appreciate to advice about synthetic biology. It is not something that I know anything about, so I am going to try to read up on it over the next couple of days.

I also need to look into the concept of an S1 lab, and where my locals ones might be. Is it the same thing as a biosafety level 1 (BSL-1) lab?

Lots of reading for me, thanks for the pointers! 

[Dave Jenkins]

Hi Dave, regulation and law talk aside, what is your background?  What
age range are you?  Are you done with high school, university?  I
don't know what A level is.

Hi. I am in my mid-30s, so I am done with university and now work in IT.

A-levels are the pre-university exams that you typically study between 16 and 18 years old. I did mine in Chemistry, Physics and Biology (but then did a completely different degree!)

I do not have any of science qualifications, but do read a fair amount of general science stuff, and have a fairly rudimentary idea of cell biology and genetics (transcription, translation etc - but at a very basic level).

 

Starting a lab can be tough, many of us have spent years trying to
slowly put things together, and will probably spend many more.  That
being said, it shouldn't deter you, many things can be had on the
cheap or improvised.    It all depends on what you want to do really,
and I know it's frustrating when people say that, but it's true.
Sometimes its nice for people to tell you exactly what to do, and
exactly what you need to do it.  On the other hand, the spirit of
science is blazing your own trail, using skills and techniques you've
acquired to do your own unique research.

Yes, I agree. I am at the difficult stage of not knowing what I don't know, so just need to do a few research iterations. I'll start by looking at synthetic biology, as suggested by Andreas, and get a feel for what can be achieved there.

 

For now do some brainstorming and figure out what you'd like to do.
Put aside any limitations you feel might exist due to equipment or
lack of knowledge, and just be creative.

Want to make a bacteria that swims in the oceans and feeds on crude oil?
Want to make a plant that glows in the presence of heavy metals?
Want to make a virus that kills skin cancer and releases floral scents
while it does so?

All crazy ideas, some impractical, but sometimes thinking up the most
insane things possible can start you on the path to making something
insane, but still possible, and useful.

This is the kind of thing I had imagined, actually engineering something that could "do something useful". I didn't have any specific project in mind, and sort of assumed that I would initially simply be making things glow and change colour while I learnt the basics. But certainly wanted to build towards something novel that, again, did "something useful".

I need to get a better feel for what can be achieved but, as you say, it is iterative.

 

Read through the iGEM team projects and look at all the sweet things
they were able to do, then work backwards on a project that interests
you.

Thanks, I will find them and add them to my reading list for the next couple of days.

 

Obviously some idea of how DNA is turned into proteins will help, but
the science can come after.  It's actually easier to learn the science
to pursue an idea you have than sometimes coming up with the actual
idea.

I know many chemists that turned into biologists step by step, and
vice versa.  None had the complete knowledge of the other field
because they never studied it, but you can use the knowledge you do
have, and with a lot of reading, learn the science you don't yet know.

I don't know, give us an idea of what it is you want to do.

I understand where you are coming from and hope to have a remedy for
it soon.  I quit my job and am going to work full time on DIY research
and trying to make that possible for others as well.

Thanks. As I mentioned earlier I do have some science background and a passing knowledge of some of the basics of genetics, so I hope that might at least make it easier to get started.

I'll have a read of the iGem stuff and the synthetic biology, and then come back here with (hopefully) a better idea, and probably loads more questions.

Thanks to both you and Andreas for the pointers and the very kind words of encouragement. It is much appreciated!