1. Amateurs
Amateurs
Amateurs

2.
Do
you
know
these
guys?
Maybe
not
the
dude
with
that
telescope,
but
surely
that
li;le
guy
with
the
pea
plant.
It’s
Gregor
Mendel.
He
was
an
amateur
scienAst,
he
was
a
biohacker.
His
21st
century
successors
are
the
people
I’m
going
to
talk
about
here.
Here’s
what
I’ve
called
these
few
minutes…

3.
Biohacking
A
new
CITIZEN
SCIENCE
for
the
age
of
genes
and
–omics
richard
friebe
!
Cathal
Gravey’s
‘Dremelfuge’

4. Mendel
is
arguably
the
most
influenAal
experimental
scienAst
the
field
of
biology
has
hitherto
seen.

5.
CiAzen
scienAsts:
innovators
oUen
no
degree
oUen
li;le
money
enough
Ame
many
ideas
….L.
da
Vinci,
O.
Brunfels,
C.
Haas,
G.W.
Leibniz,
J.
Priestley,
A.
van
Leeuwenhoek,
T.
Jefferson,
J.W.
Goethe,
E.&C.
Darwin,
G.
Mendel….

6. He
found
out
how
inheritance
works,
and
he
did
so
without
having
a
science
degree,
without
working
at
an
insAtute
or
a
university
or
a
biotech
company.
What
he
was,
as
a
monk,
was
an
employee
with
a
secure
income
and
a
roof
over
his
head
with
a
lot
of
spare
Ame,
with
an
interest
in
science,
with
ingenuity
and
paAence.
We
tend
to
think
that
science
and
engineering
is
something
really
sophisAcated,
expensive,
oUen
dangerous,
which
is
only
for
professionals
with
doctorates
who
work
away
on
extremely
complicated
stuff
with
extremely
complicated
equipment
behind
thick
walls
in
germ-­‐free
labs.
And
it’s
largely
been
like
this
for
the
past
100
or
so
years.
But
before
that,
lots
of
the
most
important
science,
lots
of
the
most
important
thinking,
lots
of
the
most
important
invenAons
and
engineering
mankind
is
sAll
relying
on,
were
made
by
amateurs.

7. They
were
priests,
parsons
or
monks
like
Mendel,
but
also
drapers
like
Antonie
van
Leuwenhoek
who
invented
the
microscope,
or
librarians
like
Goaried
Wilhelm
Leibniz,
or
housewifes
like
Fanny
Hesse
who
started
culturing
bacteria
on
agar,
something
sAll
done
today.
They
were
ciAzen
scienAsts.
In
fact,
science
and
engineering
have
never
seized
to
profit
from
a
large
influx
from
amateurs,
as
everyone
here
will
surely
be
aware
of.
Even
in
the
20th
century,
for
example
some
major
astronomical
discoveries
were
made
by
people
with
no
astronomy
degree,
who
just
loved
the
night
skies
and
had
a
telescope.
And
some
of
the
most
important
invenAons
were
made
by
Ankerers
and
college
drop-­‐outs.
For
biology,
especially
the
kind
of
biology
which
calls
itself
molecular,
it’s
been
a
different
story.
Equipment
was
expensive,
supplies
hard
to
come
by,
methods
were
really
difficult
and
required
really
sophisAcated
and
clean
procedures.

9. Things
have
changed.
Today
there’s
people
like
these.
The
girl
is
Kay
Aull,
and
she’s
the
first
person
known
to
have
hacked
her
own
genes,
sefng
up
her
own
li;le
lab
in
her
bedroom
closet
in
Cambridge,
Massachuse;s,
analysing
her
own
genome
for
a
disease
mutaAon
she
might
have
had
inherited
from
her
father.
The
guy
is
Mac
Cowell,
credited
as
one
of
the
founding
fathers
of
what’s
today
called
DIY
Biology
and
Biohacking.
And
they’re
sifng
not
in
a
university
lab
here,
but
in
a
community
lab
in
a
li;le
town
near
Boston
where
you
can
actually
do
geneAc
analysis
and,
if
you’re
paAent
and
clever
like
old
Mendel,
even
some
geneAc
engineering.

10. Cheap
second
hand
equipment
easier
protocols
Lots
of
info
online
DIY
building
of
equipment
Supplies
(and
yes:
genes)
available
online,
in
pharmacies,
supermarkets,
hardware
stores
DIY
Bio
network
!This
is
our
PCR
machine,
which
used
to
cost
as
much
as
a
home
in
the
suburbs
20
years
ago,
and
our
centrifuge.
Cost
of
both
combined:
<
400
Euro

11. Why
is
that
happening
now?
Because
it
can.
There
is
now
second
hand
equipment
available
via
ebay,
lab
kits
which
are
much
less
complicated
then
just
some
years
ago,
supplies
are
available
online,
in
pharmacies
and
hardware
stores,
protocols
are
available
online,
and
there
is
a
networked
community
helping
each
other
out.

13. These
two
guys
and
I,
we
wanted
to
know
what
these
biohackers
and
DIY
Biologists
do,
so
we
set
out
on
a
project
to
find
them
and
also
try
to
become
biohackers
ourselves.
We
set
up
our
own
lab
here
in
Berlin.
We
wanted
find
out
for
ourselves
how
hard
or
easy
it
really
is
to
build
a
lab
and
to
hack
genes.
The
answer
is,
it’s
not
easy,
but
it’s
possible.
We
analysed
sushi
to
see
if
it’s
really
got
the
tuna
in
it
that
it’s
got
on
the
label,
we
went
on
to
take
dog
poop
to
our
lab
and
collect
dog
saliva
in
the
park
to
find
out
which
puppy
it
was
that
regularly
defecated
outside
our
door.
We
looked
at
our
own
endurance
and
sprinter’s
genes.
We
even
-­‐
to
check
for
possible
hazards
and
implicaAons
-­‐
went
as
far
as
legally
possible
along
the
way
of
doing
something
which
might
be
interesAng
for
prospecAve
bioterrorists.

15. We
wrote
down
our
experience
of
more
than
two
years
of
both
journalisAc
and
lab
work
in
this
book,
and
also
what
we
think
about
chances
and
risks
of
this
movement.
The
book’s
got
about
300
pages,
so
I
can
only
sum
up
quickly
here
what
I
think
is
especially
relevant
in
the
context
of
this
conference.
The
fact
is
that
all
over
the
world,
there
are
now
people
who
do
molecular
biology
outside
of
insAtuAonalized
labs.
In
garages,
in
kitchens,
in
basements,
oUen
in
community
labs
which
are
being
set
up
by
enthusiasAc
amateurs,
but
also
by
professionals
who
believe
in
the
power
of
this
new
kind
of
ciAzen
science.

16. From
Spifng
to
Biohacking
The
hand
axe
of
DIY
biology:
…collect
saliva,
spit
in
a
shot
glass,
add
some
salt,
a
drop
of
dish
detergent,
a
drop
of
contact
lens
cleaner,
shake
carefully,
carefully
pour
high-­‐percentage
hard
liquor
over
it,
and
you’ll
see
your
very
own,
very
unique,
very
you-­‐defining
DNA…
may
fish
it
out
with
a
toothpick…
and
may
actually
go
on
and
analyze
it,
using
methods
which
are
a
li;le
more
sophisAcated…

17. They
can
do
much
more
than
just
extract
some
of
their
own
DNA
using
liquor
and
dish
detergent,
as
shown
here…
Serious
DIY
biologists
today
make
bioarts,
try
to
send
probes
into
the
stratosphere
to
collect
what
might
be
living
there,
try
syntheAc
biology,
collect
and
analyse
microbes
from
people’s
skin
or
from
people’s
ponds
and
contribute
their
work
to
big
networked
projects,
and
much
more.

18. !The
glove
of
the
first
personal
biotech
billionaire?
Maybe…
What’s
more
important:
-­‐EducaAon
-­‐Out
of
the
box
innovaAon
-­‐Networked,
parAcipatory
science
involving
all
levels
of
sophisAcaAon
and
personal
ability
-­‐DemocraAc
enlightened
parAcipaAon
in
a
century-­‐defining
technology
and
it’s
use
ad
regulaAon
-­‐Challenging
elites
-­‐PrevenAng
and
counteracAng
“black
hat”
hacking

19. They
are
invenAve
in
terms
of
what
they
use
-­‐
a
camping
cooker
can
make
for
an
excellent
Bunsen
burner,
or
a
Dremel
drill
as
shown
in
an
earlier
slide
can
be
used
to
turn
a
centrifuge.
But
above
all
they
are
invenAve
in
what
experiments
they
come
up
with.
They
try
to
make
plants
glow
in
the
dark
and
promise
people
who
fund
such
a
project
to
send
them
some
seeds
once
they’re
done.
You
might
have
heard
of
that
project
and
the
controversial
discussions
around
it.
So
they’re
also
tesAng
the
waters,
they
challenge
society
to
think
about
biotech
by
pufng
it
out
in
the
open.
There
has
been
a
lot
of
speculaAon
about
whether
among
those
garage
biologist
there
might
be
the
Steve
Jobs
or
Bill
Gates
of
the
of
personal
biotech.
Maybe,
maybe
not.
There
are
certainly
parallels
between
the
computer
hacking
movement
some
decades
back
and
the
biohacking
movement
today,
but
for
sure
they’re
not
the
same.

20. But
let
me
tell
you
what
I
think
is
most
important:
All
this
provides
people
with
the
opportunity
to
take
a
technology
which
has
huge
transformaAve
powers,
which
comes
with
huge
risks
and
opportuniAes,
back
into
their
own
hands.
It
can
on
the
one
hand
create
innovaAon
by
people
who
are
not
in
the
academic
science
box
and
thus
are
able
to
think
out
of
that
box.
But
more
importantly,
it
provides
an
opportunity
to
learn
about
this
technology
hands
on,
it
will
help
people
make
up
their
minds
about
this
technology,
will
enable
them
to
take
part
in
the
democraAc
processes
about
regulaAon
of
the
technology,
in
an
educated,
enlightened
way.
It
can
put
an
end
to
the
exclusive
access
that
scienAfic,
economic
and
poliAcal
elites
have
unAl
now
had
to
this
technology.

21. Don’t
illegalize
it!
…it’s
already
regulated
by
law
in
many
countries
(Germany:
Gentechnik-­‐,
Chemikalien-­‐,
InfekAonsschutzgesetz
etc.),
new
regulaAon
should
be
flexible,
liberal,
trying
to
make
sure
that
biohackers
aren’t
pushed
underground!

22. There
of
course
is
the
issue
of
whether
it’s
dangerous
to
let
this
happen,
to
let
kids
Anker
with
genes.
There
is
a
simple
answer:
Yes,
it
might,
but
if
we
want
to
keep
living
in
a
free
society
where
knowledge
about
a
key
technology
is
not
locked
away
and
decisions
are
made
by
people
with
vested
interests
behind
closed
doors,
there
is
just
no
other
opAon
but
to
be
liberal
about
this,
too.
Otherwise,
people
who
really
want
to
do
this
stuff
will
go
underground.
We
all
know
from
alcohol
prohibiAon
and
drug
laws
that
as
long
as
there
is
a
demand
and
a
technology
to
supply
that
demand,
prohibiAons
never
work,
they
just
make
things
worse
and
more
dangerous
and
harder
to
control.
Biotech
is
out
there,
and
it´s
becoming
doable
for
a
wider
public
and
it
has
its
uses.
We
cannot
turn
back
Ame,
instead
we
need
to
look
for
ways
how
to
make
working
with
this
technology
as
safe
as
possible,
for
example
by
providing
access
to
school-­‐
and
community
labs
and
enable
safe
and
meaningful
experimentaAon
there,
and
not
shufng
them
down
as
has
recently
happened
in
Germany,
and
to
get
the
best
out
of
it.

23. And
there
is
one
lesson
from
the
computer
hacking
movement
and
from
general
social
experience:
Most
people
have
good
intenAons,
only
very
few
people
want
to
do
harm
just
for
fun,
or
for
Allah
or
whatever.
And
most
“black
hat”
hackers
unAl
today
have
met
their
masters
in
that
huge
majority
of
well
meaning
people
out
there.
This
is
a
crucial
Ame
in
history,
when
the
switches
need
to
be
worked
for
how
biotechnology
should
be
used
in
the
future.
If
more
people
acAvely
use
and
get
to
know
this
key
technology,
there
will
be
a
greater
chance
that
this
will
go
in
the
right
direcAon.

24. Where
to
look
for
more
info:
!!!This
book
DIYbio.org
Biohack.me
openwetware.org
Thanks
to:
-­‐Robert
Bosch
SAUung
(financial
support)
-­‐Science
secAon
of
Frankfurter
Allgemeine
Sonntagszeitung
(editorial
support)
-­‐Sascha
Karberg,
Hanno
Charisius
(friends,
co-­‐authors,
co–biohackers
-­‐Veronique
Ansorge
(illustraAons)

25. This
is
our
book
CHARISIUS,
FRIEBE,
KARBERG
Biohacking
-­‐
Gentechnik
aus
der
Garage
ISBN
978-­‐3-­‐446-­‐43502-­‐5.
Hanser
Verlag
2013
which
you
get
from
your
local
book
dealer
or
via
the
known
sources
online,
and
some
places
to
go
to
on
the
web.
Also
some
thanks.
All
illustaAons
by
Veronique
Ansorge,
Photos
by
the
authors
of
“Biohacking”
THE
END.
This
work
is
licensed
under
a
CreaAve
Commons
A;ribuAon-­‐NonCommercial-­‐NoDerivs
3.0
Unported
License.
h;p://creaAvecommons.org/licenses/by-­‐nc-­‐nd/3.0/deed.en