Genome at Home: Biohackers Build Their Own LabsBiohacking might just be the next big tech wave to hit the home market. Few thought there would be any interest in computers back in the 1970s before Apple and Micro$oft came along since it was hard to see how ordinary people would use computers at that point. Hindsight tells us that ordinary people became enthusiastic computer users. The same could be true of home genetics labs. The only problem is that while a computer virus might infect other computers, a real virus could potentially infect other biological organisms and we humans are biological organisms!
Science is all about coming up with smart ways to answer hard questions. But sometimes getting those answers requires expensive machines. Physicists looking to understand the universe don’t just set up a pendulum anymore—today they build multibillion-dollar underground particle accelerators. PCR machines, critical to genetics-powered biology, start at around $6,000. And these machines, with their intricately tuned bits and pieces, aren’t friendly to the kind of void-your-warranty hacking at the heart of the maker movement (not to mention creative experimental design). In short, no amateur is going to drop tens of thousands of dollars to get a lab running, and many scientists don’t understand the inner workings of their expensive, grant-funded gadgetry well enough to whimsically crack the machines open and see how they can be modified. But thanks to the DIY revolution and Arduino, the open source circuit board, big thinkers like Cowell and engineers like Perfetto (whose OpenPCR device sells for just $599) are reverse engineering the big-budget tools. And then they’re sharing their methods with the world.
LINK:
http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/08/mf_diylab/all/1