making drugs with bugs

x-ray crystallography

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLd1rN-a2xi4RHs3yY_XEbLpKz8JsPz-9F

CRISPR-Cas9 gets approved for human trials

NIH meetings held the last couple of days gave a go for the first human trials to learn how safe using the technology in humans will be.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/first-crispr-human-clinical-trial-gets-a-green-light-from-the-u-s/

Interview with a Biohacker

Daniel Michael, operations manager at Bio-Link Depot interviews Mary Ward, co-founder of Counter Culture Labs.   Watch Mary launch her mRNA assay experiment from Oakland, California together with an international biohacking team - into outer space!

Interview with a Biohacker

Synopsis of Project

more on bacteria in space

 Nenufar Molecules for Life now has only 22 more days to reach our goal of raising the funding to do our experiment.  So far we have 5% of our funding in place, thank you all who contributed! Please take a look at our experiment and support our project with a pledge for a donation of any amount. This is what crowdfunded science looks like: 

http://experiment.com/anti-viral

Free Equipment and Supplies for science teachers in SF Bay Area

Tomorrow, Saturday June 18 at Merritt College in Oakland, Biolink Depot will give away science equipment, furniture and supplies to school teachers.  To sign up for the event, go here.  Much that is strange and retro can be found here, and things to fill in the missing gaps in any school science lab.  

NIH announces meeting about the first-in-human use of gene editing via CRISPR/Cas9 technology

The recombinant DNA Advisory committee is holding a meeting on June 21-22 2016 on CRISPR/Cas 9 use in humans with a T cell immunotherapy protocol that involves the use of CRISPR/Cas9 to edit two genes in T cells also modified to express T cell receptors targeting myeloma, melanoma, and sarcoma tumor cells.  The meeting is open to the public or can be attended remotely by the webcast link here on the days of the meeting.  More info here  

We have less than 30 days to go to raise our goal for our proposed experiment, please support our project with a donation and/or pass the word.

http://experiment.com/anti-viral

programming language for living cells

MIT biological engineers have created a programming language that allows them to rapidly design complex, DNA-encoded circuits that give new functions to living cells.

Using this language, anyone can write a program for the function they want, such as detecting and responding to certain environmental conditions. They can then generate a DNA sequence that will achieve it.

more...

A new method for use in pathogen identification

The method uses magnetic beads coated with Fc-mannose-binding lectin to isolate pathogens from fluid or tissue samples.

news 

http://wyss.harvard.edu/viewpressrelease/267

and the paper here:

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0156287#abstract0

LIGO detects gravitational waves

Lab management

I found a service that looks useful for anyone running a lab, is anyone using Quartzy? 

https://www.quartzy.com/

Nenufar's founder makes shocking confession

Put “biohacking definition” into google search and what comes up?

bi·o·hack·ing

ˈbīōhakiNG/

noun

1. the activity of exploiting genetic material experimentally without regard to accepted ethical standards, or for criminal purposes.

To be clear, I’m a biohacker.  

To some scientists, biohacker is a bad word. Shoddy, dangerous experiments in makeshift labs by relatively untrained people with more enthusiasm than academic training producing unverified results, and more like accusations assail us.  According to the definition above, biohackers are suspicious characters, perhaps some shadowy gang of unethical thugs.  Is this definition actually supported by facts?   Is the world really in danger of bizarre bio-organisms being created in biohacker labs and getting loose in the world to raise havoc?

Or - is biohacking rather an entry point to science, open to anyone who has the will to learn the theory and practice of biology and to put it into practice by developing practical applications?  What role if any does biohacking play in the advancement and evolution of science and technology?  Are biohackers any more or less ethical than scientists working in corporate environments?  If you are a scientist, researcher, biohacker, or just watching from the sidelines, what is your opinion of the biohacking movement?   Are you a biohacker? 

actual photos taken in a biohacking lab

molecular biology - DNA replication and repair

One of the better things about living in the 21st century - MOOCs!

MIT MOOC starting June 7 for 8 weeks. it's an advanced level course, and it is free to take the course.  

Climb on board here

big list of Zika Virus resources

http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/infectious-disease-topics/zika#literature

molecular biology lab tutorials

Here's some nice molecular biology lab tutorials and protocols from our friends at the-odin.com

How does the immune system responds to Ebola Virus?

Four Ebola patients received care at Emory University Hospital, presenting a unique opportunity to examine the cellular immune responses during acute Ebola virus infection. We found striking activation of both B and T cells in all four patients. Plasmablast frequencies were 10–50% of B cells, compared with less than 1% in healthy individuals. Many of these proliferating plasmablasts were IgG-positive, and this finding coincided with the presence of Ebola virus-specific IgG in the serum. Activated CD4 T cells ranged from 5 to 30%, compared with 1–2% in healthy controls. The most pronounced responses were seen in CD8 T cells, with over 50% of the CD8 T cells expressing markers of activation and proliferation. Taken together, these results suggest that all four patients developed robust immune responses during the acute phase of Ebola virus infection, a finding that would not have been predicted based on our current assumptions about the highly immunosuppressive nature of Ebola virus. Also, quite surprisingly, we found sustained immune activation after the virus was cleared from the plasma, observed most strikingly in the persistence of activated CD8 T cells, even 1 mo after the patients’ discharge from the hospital. These results suggest continued antigen stimulation after resolution of the disease. From these convalescent time points, we identified CD4 and CD8 T-cell responses to several Ebola virus proteins, most notably the viral nucleoprotein. Knowledge of the viral proteins targeted by T cells during natural infection should be useful in designing vaccines against Ebola virus.

read the paper here

https://experiment.com/projects/can-we-express-a-synthetic-gene-of-interest-in-bacteria-for-study-as-an-antiviral