This is the first part of an hour-long introduction to “biohacking” for computer scientists and other non-biologists. A great introduction to molecular biology, synthetic biology, and the concept of biohacking.
I find the distinction he makes between how a biological researcher isolates DNA and how, for example, a high school student isolates DNA is particularly interesting. While the researcher isolates DNA to find out something about it, he says, the high school student (or other hacker) doesn’t really care about the details, only what he or she can do with it.
This “abstraction” of biological molecules into something more akin to electronic components that can be moved around without really caring how they do something, only what they do is a very important idea, and one that has been used in molecular biology research for decades. Genes that make cells fluorescent, or genes that can allow a cell to break down chemicals have been used in this way as tools for further research, as diagnostics, and as ways to make useful compounds. These tools are built on further decades of research into how these genes work, much of the time with rudimentary and home-made tools. The history and process of biological research is fascinating and important for everyone, especially people who maybe have less experience in the lab but want to learn more and want to try some stuff out on their own. I think as people learn more about biological research, they may find that the distinction between the hacker and the researcher is not as big as they once thought.
If you’re interested in learning more about molecular biology there are a lot of great resources on the web and some great books for the beginner. I really enjoyed “Molecular Biology Made Simple and Fun”, which I read even after having worked in a research lab for a couple years and found useful and remarkably not condescending considering the title. There are also some great books about what it’s like to work in a lab and the process of research, including Natalie Angier’s “Natural Obsessions: Striving to Unlock the Deepest Secrets of the Cancer Cell” and Bruno Latour’s “Laboratory Life.” My secret hope is that this blog will be a resource for people who want to find out more about synthetic biology—what’s going on in the lab, the big breakthroughs, and how it’s received by scientists and non-scientists alike.
