[dorkbotsea-blabber] DIYbio Seattle

[Alec Nielsen]

Hey everybody,

I thought some of you might be interested in a really cool, emerging
community called DIYbio. Do-It-Yourself Biology is a worldwide collection of
biology enthusiasts, professionals, academics, and hobbyists. This
community's noble goal is to democratize technology and resources needed to
work and play with biology. No longer will people require a PhD and access
to a multimillion dollar lab to partake in the many aspects of biological
science. Personally, I'm invested in DIYbio because I think that widespread
biohacking and backyard-biology has the potential to rapidly progress
biological technology (kind of like hobbyists in the early days of personal
computing). Also, biology is awesome and really fun to mess around with.

Some current DIYbio happenings include designing open source biotech
equipment (electroporators, gel boxes, power supplies, etc), setting up
garage laboratories, engineering bacterial genetics to detect melamine, and
providing unfettered access to scientific journals. Moreover, underlying
this entire movement is the recognition that safety, ethicality, and
transparency are paramount to fostering a responsible community of
biohackers.

There's DIYbio groups popping up the world over, but Seattle has some of the
most involvement, excitement, and opportunities (Boston and the Bay Area are
up there too). DIYbio-Seattle had our first meeting a few weeks ago, and
we're having another one this Friday. You should come! Seattle-ite Dan
Heidel is hosting it at his house in Phinney Ridge. Dan is in the process of
setting up Seattle Open Biolabs--a wetlab in South Seattle where those who
want to do research can, and where people can develop their own ideas
without worrying about an institution owning their IP. Dan is seeking
motivated, competent individuals to come work with him.

But! There's more going on than just hardcore biological research. In the
coming months, people all over the country are going to take part in
BioWeatherMap: a project where hundreds of people meet up at local parks,
street corners, and neighborhoods. These masses of DIYbio-ers will use
sterile swabs (like Q-Tips) on all the crosswalk buttons, drinking fountain
handles, and doorknobs in the area. These swabs will pick up all the
microscopic life from these frequently-touched surfaces, and they will be
sent to have the microorganisms sequenced and identified. Next, geographical
information about the local microflora will be put up on a Google Maps-like
interface. How do microbe populations vary across different regions? We're
about to find out on a large scale. It's going to be very cool.

Anyways, check out DIYbio.org if you're interested, or join the Seattle
group (http://groups.google.com/group/diybio---seattle?lnk=srg) and say hi.
If you want to come to our next (very informal) meeting, it's at 8PM Friday,
Jan 30th.  4817 Greenwood Ave N Seattle, WA 98103. Come with questions,
ideas, or just to hang out. Let me know if you're interested!

Alec
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