Did some DIY biology, launched a new organism
This newsletter's hiatus explained. Plus news, commentary, and fancy tomatoes.
Hello, and welcome back to SD&B! It’s been a minute. Since I last published an issue of this newsletter, I’ve been hard at work at my job, as well as fighting the overwhelming exhaustion that comes with growing a human.
That’s right, I made a person with my body! This age-old DIYbio trick is super fun, and I’m excited to introduce my household’s newest organism, baby Z! She’s really cute and I like her a lot. Now that I’m almost back to feeling normal, I thought I’d send out a missive about some biotech news. Please accept my apologies for the extended absence.
In other news, here are some recent headlines you may have missed:
Renee Wegrzyn tapped by Biden to lead APRA-H. I’m not just saying this because she’s a trusted friend and colleague, but there is literally no one else with the vision and experience necessary to make the new moonshots agency successful. The “DARPA for healthcare” has the potential to revolutionize the way we approach medical and pharma research, and it’s badly needed. Perhaps for the first time in my life, I can say that I support the White House in this decision 100 percent. No notes, this is perfect.
Purple tomatoes are finally coming to store shelves! The long-awaited GMO tomato has extra antioxidants and an enticing purple hue, and it’s one of the first agricultural edits that’s geared at attracting a health-conscious consumer, reports Emily Mullin in Wired. I can’t wait for a lovely early summer burrata salad with these bad boys, which should be available next year.
Biosecurity is the new black. If you haven’t noticed, we’re rife with viruses. Between Covid, monkeypox, polio, and the flu this season, we need to get a handle on public health soon. Biosecurity infrastructure will be especially important in the event of a new pandemic, a bioterror attack, or the accidental release of something sketchy. Just like cybersecurity was the buzzword of the digital age, biosecurity should be a top priority as we move into the era of programmable technology. (Yes, this is Concentric by Ginkgo spon con. Sorry not sorry!)
A big step forward for open science. In more big news from OSTP (they’re really killing it these days, huh?), the government is significantly lowering barriers to accessing scientific research that lives behind paywalls. Hooray! Now let’s kill all the information paywalls.
Turns out, it’s possible to grow embryos from stem cells. Nature reports the achievements by two teams that successfully grew synthetic mouse embryos, both of which have been attempting to solve this problem for many years. The combination of the limitations of science, abortion bans, and evolving embryo research rules have made it difficult for scientists to do the work necessary to understand what happens to embryos between about 14 days and 6 weeks. This period is a “black box” of human development, and understanding how and why some pregnancies fail could be useful in pushing back against personhood laws and bans on reproductive healthcare.
What the hell is DeSci and why should I care?
For many years I’ve been involved in a casual reading group of likeminded academics who are interested in studying (and supporting) non-establishment, independent science. We circulate articles about community bio and biohacker news and keep tabs on the movement when not doing our own research and writing.
Someone pinged the group after we’ve been on a long hiatus to ask about whether we should begin to investigate the Decentralized Science movement, or DeSci, a new community that I believe may be an evolution of what happens when the biohacker and open science communities mate with the blockchain. Is DeSci meaningfully different than the open research and DIY bio/science/medicine movements of the past 15 years? Is there a particular aspect (besides its proponents’ attachment to blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies) that is new? If there is, I can’t find it. DeSci and non-establishment/independent science both have the following key characteristics:
Support open science and open access to information
Want to create new funding and research models
Interested in developing innovative forms of oversight models
Open to amateur participation and experimentation/operate outside the realms of traditional research hubs, ie the government, private industry, and academia.
So, what’s the difference? This chart even includes two well-known Community Bio projects as being part of the DeSci ecosystem: JOGL and Friendzymes. And it also lists the Foresight Institute, a longtime supporter of a number transhumanist-adjacent movements, including biohacking. ⬇️
Do you have thoughts on where independent science ends and DeSci begins? Leave a comment or shoot me a DM.