Biohackers – the geneticists in the garage

If you are living outside America, chances are you have not yet heard of DIYbio, a new approach to biotechnology that is already generating great interest across the Atlantic, and is now gathering pace in Europe.

Read more : http://euroscientist.com/2010/08/157/

Biotechniques.com : Cheap PCR: new low cost machines challenge traditional designs

Although PCR is a fundamental tool for many biologists, thermal cyclers—essential to driving PCR reactions—have not yet become easily affordable or widely accessible. An instrument’s expense, which is between $4000 and $10,000, has essentially confined its usage to university laboratories, and excluded entities like public schools or field-based health initiatives, which could benefit from easy access to DNA amplification technologies.

Read more : http://www.biotechniques.com/news/Cheap-PCR-new-low-cost-machines-challenge-traditional-designs/biotechniques-301745.html

Global Synthetic Biology Market to Exceed $4.5 Billion by 2015, According to New Report by Global Industry Analysts, Inc.

Global Synthetic Biology Market to Exceed $4.5 Billion by 2015, According to New Report by Global Industry Analysts, Inc. GIA announces the release of a global market report on Synthetic Biology. Global Synthetic biology market is projected to exceed $4.5 billion by the year 2015. Synthetic biology is expected to provide major advances in the areas of biomedicine, biopharmaceuticals synthesis, biosecurity, energy and environment, sustainable chemical segment, and biomaterials/smart materials production. Significant investments are expected in the synthetic biology field.

Global Synthetic Biology Market to Exceed $4.5 Billion by 2015, According to New Report by Global Industry Analysts, Inc.

Gel Electrophoresis Virtual Lab

Have you ever wondered how scientists work with tiny molecules that they can't see? Here's your chance to try it yourself! Sort and measure DNA strands by running your own gel electrophoresis experiment.

Find out here how gel electrophoresis works : http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/labs/gel/

IFTF - Curing Cancer in a Garage?

This is the first time I've seen someone happily exclaim, "I'm curing cancer in my garage!"

Biocurious, a new hackerspace for biotech based in Mountain View, CA, has just been born. Founders Eri Gentry and Joseph Jackson started this community lab space for citizen science, expanding the trend of hackerspaces like Noisebridge and HackerDojo into biology. They are crowd-raising $30,000 to help get their garage lab off the ground.

Read more : http://www.iftf.org/node/3526?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Synthetic biology, ethics and the hacker culture

 by ANDREW MAYNARD on AUGUST 17, 2010

While the DIY Biotechnology community has grown considerably since this post, the piece still captures something of what is still a young movement, and one that challenges assumptions about top-down technology innovation.

Read more: http://2020science.org/2010/08/17/synthetic-biology-ethics-and-the-hacker-culture/#ixzz0x9hpkhn3

On Cunningprojects.com : An Analysis of What #DIYbio Has and What It Needs

DIYbio and its more professionally oriented cousin, Garage Biotech, are undergoing a revolution at present. Essential equipment that used to cost thousands is now available at affordable prices, in many cases under open licensing schemes and open to community development. Knowledge of biology, genetics and the procedures underlying it all is being disseminated in ever-more-abstracted forms to make it easier to get started. And soon, even the biological components: strains, enzymes and substrates, will likely become mass-marketable.

It’s an exciting time to be involved in the development of tomorrow’s technology, and sometimes I find myself stepping back to consider what we have, and what we still need. I may as well share these musings with others to spare them the time, and perhaps to inspire someone with the know-how to fill in the gaps and help make this happen.

Prepare for a long, long post. Read more here : http://letters.cunningprojects.com/?p=132

Opinion on Synthetic Biology

Like Tom Wakeford and Jackie Haq (26 June, p 26), we were part of the group overseeing the preliminary dialogue between scientists and members of the public, discussing breakthroughs in synthetic biology with a view to gauging their response to the new technologies......

Read more on the New Scientist website : http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20727720.200-synthetic-biology.html