DIYbio is an informal umbrella organization for individuals and local groups active in do-it-yourself biology, encompassing both a website and an

email list A mailing list is a collection of names and addresses used by an individual or an organization to send material to multiple recipients. The term is often extended to include the people subscribed to such a list, so the group of subscribers is re ...

. It serves as a network of individuals from around the globe that aims to help make biology a worthwhile pursuit for citizen scientists,

biohackers ''Biohackers'' is a German techno-thriller television series created by Christian Ditter that premiered on Netflix on 20 August 2020. A week after its release, the series was renewed for a second season, which was released on 9 July 2021. Syno ...

, amateur biologists, and do-it-yourself biological engineers who value openness and safety. It was founded by Jason Bobe and Mackenzie Cowell in 2008. The website provides resources for those in the do-it-yourself biology community. It maintains a directory of local groups encompassing both meetup groups and organizations maintaining community laboratory space, and a weekly blog listing events hosted by these organizations. The website also hosts safety information including ethics codes developed by the community and an "ask a biosafety professional" feature, as well as DIY instructions for making several types of laboratory equipment.

Community

The blending of biology expertise gained from experimentation, and software development, quality control, awareness of

open source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...

principles, and security expertise transferred from the professional work of many DIYbio enthusiasts, has led to a unique

subculture A subculture is a group of people within a culture that differentiates itself from the parent culture to which it belongs, often maintaining some of its founding principles. Subcultures develop their own norms and values regarding cultural, poli ...

among this community, with some members referring to themselves as

biopunk Biopunk (a portmanteau of "biotechnology" or "biology" and "punk") is a subgenre of science fiction that focuses on biotechnology. It is derived from cyberpunk, but focuses on the implications of biotechnology rather than mechanical cyberware and ...

s in reference to the

cypherpunk A cypherpunk is any individual advocating widespread use of strong cryptography and privacy-enhancing technologies as a route to social and political change. Originally communicating through the Cypherpunks electronic mailing list, informal g ...

s of the turn of the century. The work 'A Biopunk Manifesto' delivered by Patterson at the UCLA conference lays down the principles of the biopunk movement, in an homage to the prior work of cypherpunk Eric Hughes. That a significant proportion of the DIYbio mailing list membership are openly in support of outsourcing DNA synthesis and sequencing makes it difficult to determine whether this definition truly applies; in general, the two hobbies are impossible to distinguish and share a common community. Both are forms of

citizen science Citizen science (CS) (similar to community science, crowd science, crowd-sourced science, civic science, participatory monitoring, or volunteer monitoring) is scientific research conducted with participation from the public (who are sometimes re ...

. As DIYbio has grown, tools and materials have become available including instructions on how to build lab equipment and DIYbio stores lik
The ODIN
that provide inexpensive materials. Some participants call themselves ‘

’, not hackers in the sense of infiltrating protected places and stealing information, but hackers in the original sense of taking things apart and putting them back together in a new, better way. These biohackers often pursue these interests outside of their jobs, companies or institutional labs.

Activities

Beginning in 2009 the FBI engaged active members of the DIYbio Google Groups mailing list much like they engage scientific boards at universities and businesses. The dialogue focused on safety issues and aimed to instill a sense of self-policing in the ad-hoc online community. Because DIYbio and biohacking takes place on an international level, the FBI is limited in its ability to monitor and investigate all activity. However, in 2012 the FBI held a DIYbio conference in Walnut Creek, California where they paid to fly in biohackers from all over the world in an attempt to forge a connection to the DIYbio community. DIYbio was featured at a table in Newcastle Maker Faire in March, 2010, with DNA extraction experiments and projects involving isolation of luminescent bacteria being demonstrated or given away. The "Dremelfuge", an open-source,

3D printed 3D printing or additive manufacturing is the construction of a three-dimensional object from a CAD model or a digital 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is deposited, joined or solidified under computer co ...

Dremel-powered centrifuge, was presented as an example of how Biotech can be made more accessible. A presentation on the potential of DIYbio and synthetic biology gathered a sizeable attendance. Internal discussions and proposed projects for DIYbio members often include discussion of risk mitigation and public perception. An oft-discussed topic is the search for a convenient and safe "

model organism A model organism (often shortened to model) is a non-human species that is extensively studied to understand particular biological phenomena, with the expectation that discoveries made in the model organism will provide insight into the workin ...

" for DIYbio which would evoke less suspicion than E.coli. Suggestions include ''

Janthinobacterium lividum ''Janthinobacterium lividum'' is an aerobic organism, aerobic, Gram-negative bacteria, Gram-negative, soil-dwelling bacterium that has a distinctive dark-violet (almost black) color, due to a compound called violacein, which is produced when gly ...

'', '' Bacillus subtilis'', ''

Acetobacteria Acetic acid bacteria (AAB) are a group of Gram-negative bacteria which oxidize sugars or ethanol and produce acetic acid during fermentation. The acetic acid bacteria consist of 10 genera in the family Acetobacteraceae. Several species of acetic ...

'' or ''

Gluconacetobacter ''Gluconacetobacter'' is a genus in the phylum Pseudomonadota (Bacteria). In 2012, several species previously classified in the genus ''Gluconacetobacter'' were reclassified under the new genus '' Komagataeibacter'', including the cellulose prod ...

spp.'', and baker's

yeast Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are estimated to constitut ...

. A list of potential biosafe organisms was drawn up by the National Center for Biotechnology Education.National Centre for Biotechnology Education , Recommended bacteria

Community

Activities

See also

References

External links