Synthetic biology and biohacking – unlikely bedfellows or pioneering matchmaking?

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What does frontline university research with several million kroner budgets have to do with a group of Do-It-Yourself science aficionados building labs in garages and basements on shoestring budgets? Find some answers at the “Doing and Debating Synthetic Biology” symposium on March 21st at Medical Museion in Copenhagen.

Synthetic biology is a burgeoning research field which promises a completely new approach to biology: seeing cells and their components as reprogrammable and potential building blocks that can be used to construct cellular factories for producing medicinal drugs, ingredients and chemicals currently produced from oil. Biohackers try to democratize science, and many regard the synthetic biology approach as something that will spur an industry revolution, similar to the one started by computer hackers democratizing IT in the 1970s. Come to the symposium and hear from biohackers, synthetic biologists, sociologists, and ethicists, and join in the discussion about the future of bio-based technologies.

The panel consists of:
Sarah R. Davies, postdoc, University of Copenhagen (UCPH), http://medm.us/13XyJ5h
Birger Lindberg Møller, Professor, Director of Center for Synthetic Biology, UCPH, synbio.ku.dk/blm, http://medm.us/Z577WN
Rüdiger Trojok, biohacker, OpenBioProjects.net
Sune H. Holm, Ass. Professor of bioethics, UCPH, http://medm.us/ZK4uZC

Additional speakers include Martin Malthe Borch, biotech engineer, interaction designer, and co-founder of Scandinavia’s first DIYbio space, BiologiGaragen.org, and Karin Tybjerg and Louise Whiteley, directors of Medical Museion’s biohacking project.

The symposium will run from 7.30-10.00 pm, and the lab installation will be open from 6.30 pm. Refreshments will be provided, and tickets can be purchased from Billetto.dk: http://medm.us/Z56Cfe, or purchased on the door.

The event accompanies a lab installation, made in collaboration between the EU FP7 Studiolab Project, Medical Museion, the Center for Synthetic Biology at the University of Copenhagen, and Copenhagen hackerspaces Labitat and BiologiGaragen.

Novozymes støtter med 100.000 kroner til at udvide Labitat og fremme gør-det-selv biologi

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Novozymes har bevilliget et sponsorat til Labitat på 100.000 DKK til støtte og videre udvikling af arbejdet med bio-hacking og gør-det-selv biologi. Pengene skal bruges til at understøtte en fysisk udvidelse af Labitat, med de omkostninger der følger.

Der har den seneste tid været stigende interesse for Labitat, og vi har modtaget flere nye grupper, der gerne vil afvikle projekter i Labitats regi. Derfor har vi i længere tid arbejdet med at finde finansiering til at flytte til større og bedre lokaler. Udover at skabe plads til det stigende antal medlemmer skal de nye rammer give rum til afvikling af workshops i forskellige teknologiske discipliner, samt give os mulighed for at opbygge et godkendt bioteknologisk laboratorium.

Labitat er en uafhængig selvfinansieret forening, hvor vi arbejder på et frivilligt basis med at udbrede adgangen til teknologi og viden. Derfor falder sponsoratet fra Novozymes på et tørt sted, og vi sætter stor pris på deres håndsudrækning i forbindelse med at udbrede mulighederne for gør-det-selv biotek i Danmark. Det er skønt at se Industrien engagere sig, og det beviser for os, at Novozymes har et oprigtig ønske om at fremme innovation og videndeling – også uden for deres egne mure.

I mellemtiden arbejder vi med at finde de sidste penge, der muliggør flytning til de nye lokaler. Vi håber derfor, at andre virksomheder kan have interesse i at følge trop med Novozymes og bakke os op i vores arbejde, så vi snart kan indvie det nye Labitat – et uafhængigt kreativt forskningsmiljø hvor alle har adgang til ny teknologi og viden.

Labitat-Technology-Creativity

DR2 Deadline journalister mudrer betydning af “biohacking”

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Deadline-journalisterne og internetpsykologen roder rundt i begreberne i Deadline-udsendelsen fra d. 16. november kl. 17. Selvmåling er IKKE det samme som biohacking. Rapporteren, der speaker i selve indslaget kalder det “bodyhacking”, hvilket er mere korrekt. Bodyhacking/selvmåling er måske snarere en undertendens af biohacking/Do-It-Yourself bio, der har langt mere vidtrækkende muligheder. Wikipedia har været med til at udbrede denne anden betydning af begrebet biohacking: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biohacking

Ingen tvivl om at bodyhacking/selvmåling er en interessant tendens. Den er jo også udsprunget af gør-det-selv/hacker filosofien. Det er bare ærgerligt når folk anvender synonymer, der allerede har en anden betydning. Den slags ødelægger sprogets præcision. Hvorfor ikke nøjes med at kalde det bodyhacking/self-hacking. Det forvirrer folk ude i stuerne, hvis den oprindelige betydning af ordet biohacker skulle blive brugt i medierne på et senere tidspunkt.

(English translation will be posted).

Open Source Science Projects

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We will like to draw your attention to these two fantastic open source science projects.

The Public Laboratory, environmental and chemical monitoring with self build hardware: Spectrometry, water quality, air balons, oil spill monitoreing: http://publiclaboratory.org/tools

Backyard brains, Learn neuroscience by experimenting with cockroaches: http://www.backyardbrains.com/Home.aspx

 

 

Invitation to DIYBIO Europe kick off meeting

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The do it yourself biology Europe community is having the first official meeting to kick start activities focused on the specific situations we have here in EU.

 

Everybody with an interest in DIY-BIO is welcome to join the meeting read more and sign up on the diybio.eu blog: http://www.diybio.eu/diybio-europe-kick-off-meeting-1st-dec-paris/

 

If you’d like to represent Biologigaragen / Labitat at this meeting please feel free to do so, the meeting is free.

Foundation of a European DIYbio (Do-it-yourself Biology) community

On the first weekend of december in Paris (France) is organized the first meeting dedicated to the creation of a European DIYbio community, hosted by the french DIYbio group La Paillasse. This meeting or workshop will be the first of its kind, and will be followed by other ones thoughout Europe during the year 2013. We wish to bring together european actors already involved or that desire to be involved with DIYbio in order to build together the future European Community of amateur biologists.

Report from biohacker workshop on national Radio

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The national wide radio “24-syv”-s natural science program “3. planet fra solen” visited out biohacker workshop here in august.

The program is now available on their web-page. We are inviting you to experience parts of our successful workshop. Listen to our DNA-purification experiment and the demonstration of our gene-gun.

http://arkiv.radio24syv.dk/video/6997330/3-planet-fra-solen-uge-36-2012

 

Biohacking workshop 25-26th Aug @ Labitat – UPDATE, PROGRAM AND INFO.

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This weekend we are hosting a biohaker workshop.

There is still a bit of room for more participants, and you are welcome to spontaneously drop-by and also bring a friend. People signed up in advance will have priority to space and equipment. Price 150 kr.

We are looking forward to fruitful discussions, to tinker with technology,  -biology, play and do a lot of biohacking. There are a few introducing talks, but this is a hacking session, and the workshop is mostly open and we are very flexible with our program outline.  You will have an opportunity to work yourself and get hands-on with biohacking. We are providing several experiments and topics and then you can decide where to specialize.

If you have worked on any biology or related electronics projects that could be fun to share and show, please do bring them. As well if you have any projects or ideas you’d like to start working on and get some input to, bring them as well.

Saturday, start 1pm:  Citizen science biology and biohacking.

  • Welcome introduction
  • Talk – History of biohacking in Danish erspective, citizen science, open science ( Martin Malthe Borch) 1h.
  • The elementary biohacking lab equipment and experiments, purify-DNA, run a gel, ect.   1h.
  • For those interested, preparing yoghurt and sourdough ryebread for the Sunday brunch – get our “reclaim your yoghurt” folder and bring the culture with you home.
  • Hands-on biohacking of prepared and spontanous projects –open end.
    Possible projects: Purify DNA – Visualize DNA on an Agar-Gel made from kitchen ingredients – Build a readout system to catch fluorescence effects of a DNA stain from a webcam – Hacking a webcam and looking at microorganisms. – Building your own DIYstirring plate – Build/Hack your own water bath or “sous vide” cooker – Moss tagging

Sunday, start 11am:  Synthetic biology, ethics and art. Brunch, talks and discussions

  • Talk – Synthetic biology, hacking perspectives and Ethics. ( Rüdiger Trojok )
  • Talk – Biology from an art and personal-health-design perspective ( Sara Fournier Krugman )
  • Free discussions and more biohacking – open end

Other themes and discussions we might talk about:

  • FBI DIYBIO outreach conference, and now CIA !
  • Open hardware collaboration methods and organization
  • Innovation the classic way vs innovation in hackerspaces
  • open source drug discovery – a future models for R&D and worldwide healthcare?

We are looking forward to see you all.

BiologiGaragen & Labitat

- Martin Malthe Borch
- Rüdiger Trojok - http://www.openbioprojects.net/
 - Sara Fournier Krugman - http://www.sarakrugman.com/

Download the flyer as PDF:   Labitat-Museion-Flyer-Black-Web2

Reclaim your microorganisms

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Hack din egen yoghurt og lav din egen surdej
Demoteket & Open source food

Før køleskabe og frysere blev standard i danske hjem, var det almindeligt selv at forarbejde sine fødevarer med bakterier og skimmelsvampe, en proces kaldet fermentering, der gav nye smagsnuancer til maden og konserverede den.

BiologiGaragen var inviteret til at fortælle om anvendensen af mikroorganismer i fødevarer til Demotekets - open source food arrangement på Brønshøj bibliotek den 29 marts 2012. Martin Malthe Borch fra BiologiGaragen deltog og fortalte om:

Der blev også udgivet en lille folder med opskrifter og vejledninger i hvordan man laver yoghurt og surdej, samt bager sit eget rugbrød. Til sidst i folderen er der lidt intro og forklaring af DIYBIO miljøet.

 

Hent folder om yoghurt og surdej

Held og lykke med opskrifterne og del gerne erfaringerne her.

Open source food deltog også i arrangementet, på deres hjemmeside er der googlemaps-kort over spiselige planter og links til andet spiseligt biologi: http://opensourcefood.info/