Amateurs are trying genetic engineering at home
December 26, 2008 By MARCUS WOHLSEN , Associated Press Writer
Meredith L. Patterson, a computer programmer by day, conducts an experiment in the dining room of her San Francisco apartment on Thursday, Dec. 18, 2008. Patterson is among a new breed of techno rebels who want to put genetic engineering tools in the hands of anyone with a smart idea. Using homemade lab equipment and the wealth of scientific knowledge available online, these hobbyists are trying to create new life forms through genetic engineering - a field long dominated by Ph.D.s toiling in university and corporate laboratories. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
(AP) -- The Apple computer was invented in a garage. Same with the Google search engine. Now, tinkerers are working at home with the basic building blocks of life itself.
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It really is a good thing that people are interested and want to try create new and useful stuff. But fooling around in molecular genetics can really be dangerous for a lay person without any formal education.
For example in an electrophoresis chamber you have to use Ethidium-Bromide if you want to see the DNA, and that is a serious mutagene and carcinogene. Not to mention you also need a far-UV lamp to illuminate it and that's also dangerous without the protection.
It's of course impossible to create a deadly plague by arbitrary accident, so it looks like they managed to find a treehugger luddite as a critic.
I remember back in the 80's the first dedicated PhD, running around the university connecting the computers in a network.
The PhD was eventually replaced by an engineer, who was then replaced by a very high paid technician. Now it is a low paid low schooled technician who does this job, and lately I saw a Shiakira add with a router on her back saying "Shall I install your network sir?"
You are quite ignorant.
The best horseman is always on his feet.
I guess many good and bad stuff will keep coming out of the garage, as happened many times in history.
The chances of amateurs producing a killer organism are practically zero, if at all such organism is much more likely to emerge from a proper lab where infectious agents are worked on.
In the worst case they might poison themselves or their family, let a (harmless in 99.99% cases) GMO escape or dump toxic materials into the environment.
The talk about creating a cure for cancer or vaccines is also completely unrealistic, to even start thinking about such work you need to have access to disease models which means either breeding live animals or cell lines, both options are inaccessible to amateurs. What they might succeed at is making various organisms glow, as that's relatively easy.
People who are seriously interested in molecular biology should consider a formal education in this field, with access to proper lab equipment and training you are much more likely to come up with something worthwhile.
Lol, all bacteria are much more alive above zero then below. Temperatures of -80C are used to store them frozen for long periods of time.