DIYbio Meetup in Boston on Thursday, Oct... We had a great summer getting DIYbio off the ground. A suspicion that the era of DIY biology was upon us led to a kick-off meeting at Asgard’s pub in Cambridge only 5 short months ago. In the months that followed, we investigated simple DIY protocols like DNA extraction and gel electrophoresis, we hacked what we could, shared ideas about what the future might hold, and even managed to get a little press. There is even a group of DIYbioers springing up on the west coast. Yay! So, what’s next for DIYbio? Come find out, share your ideas, and learn how to get involved...

Science without Scientists... As molecular tools get cheaper, and the know-how for using them more widely distributed, I think we’re going to see a renaissance in science. The peculiar feature of this renaissance is that its going to take place outside of “science proper”, away from the universities which dominate now, and funded out-of-pocket by enthusiasts without PhDs. The democratization of technologies will enable more people to do their own science: make hypotheses, design experiments, collect large data sets, and apply a mixture of reasoning and cloud computing to make discoveries....

Environmentally Benign DIYbio... Some scientists are really making an effort to make their own labs environmentally benign. I discovered the term in reference to Angela Belcher’s work using environmentally benign viruses. One goal for amateur biologists and DIYers is to figure out how to operate in ways that are “environmentally benign”, especially in the following areas: (1) REAGENTS: Can they be stored safely? (2) EXPERIMENTAL OUTCOMES: This may be most important for SynBio experiments. Anything that cannot live in the backyard, or safely go down the sink, might be a problem for researchers...

DIYbio 3 - Gel Electrophoresis... Thanks to everyone for a great meeting: Michael, Jason, Sophia, Benny, Topher, Ricardo, Alex, Alec, nublabs, and everyone else. Overview: DIYbio 2 & 3 were focused on gel electrophoresis - we started by researching all the amateur gel protocols we could find online (notably the MacGuyver Project and the MAKE protocol, the latter of which we decided to focus on) and making a shopping list of materials we would need to build the complete gel apparatus, make a gel, and stain DNA. We got Agar agar powder from a health food store on ebay and Potato Dextrose Agar and sybr green...

DIYbio in 5 minutes - O’Reilly Ign... DIYbio in 5 minutes - O’Reilly ignite Boston from mac cowell on Vimeo. Here is an overview of DIYbio in 5 minutes - recorded at O’Reilly’s Ignite Boston 2008.

Don’t Phage Me, Bro... In the packed back-room of Asgard’s Irish Pub in Cambridge, a diverse crowd of 25+ enthusiasts gathered to discuss the next big thing in biology: amateurs. Mackenzie (Mac) Cowell led-off the night with an overview of recent history in biological engineering, and asked the question: Can molecular biology or biotechnology be a hobby? Will advancements in synthetic biology be the tipping point that enables DIYers and garagistas to make meaningful contributions to the biological sciences, outside of traditional institutions? Can DIYbio.org be the Homebrew Computer Club...