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0 pointsDaveWalk10y ago0 comments

Your examples are intriguing, but I wonder precisely how much they would cost. "Enzyme isolation" means a suite of biology tools, which you could store in a garage, but aren't cheap like a laptop, server, internet connection or AWS might be.

Thinking to the most basic biology research I know, that's got to be at least $25,000 to get started. And as a scientist I don't know how much I'd trust results from someone's unregulated garage.

That said, I once heard a legent that the founder of New England Biolabs sold the first restriction enzymes out of a cooler in the trunk of his car in the 70s. I wonder if they were produced in a garage, too?

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pcrh10y ago

Enzyme isolation might be tricky, and unpredictable, but the equipment isn't particularly expensive. You can buy top-of the range equipment from various suppliers, or literally build it yourself. You could build a system like ÄKTA [0] yourself if you have a minimum of engineering knowledge. Or share a second-hand version with some other "biohackers".

The advantage that a bio-hacker might have, though, is in the ability to patent novel proteins or processes, and then trade those for further investment. The time-to-market for novel biological processes/inventions is far too long to expect a significant first mover advantage without significant financial backing and IP protection.

[0]http://www.gelifesciences.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/cata...

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