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Ask HN: What's the quickest way to get into synthetic Biology?

8 points by mygo ↗ HN
I have a Biology background (B.S. degree) and a programming background.

I want to know how I can get my feet wet with synthetic Biology.

What's the quickest way to do so, without having access to a university lab?

Assuming I have space in the garage, is there some kit that I can buy, or something that I can build?

(I have seen some kits, but not knowing enough about the space, I'm not sure which ones are decent for learning and experimenting, and which ones are just money-grabs)

6 comments

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thedevindevops
loudspeaker whine

Sir? Put down the Petri dish and back away slowly.

Seriously:

I highly suggest you read up on Bioethics of synthetic biology and its potential applications.

Doxin
I highly doubt a single guy hobbying around with synthetic biology is going to cause biological weapons to be used in the wild. Any field has potentially awful applications, but that certainly doesn't mean people should not participate in that field.
mygo
As I mentioned before, I spent half a decade studying Biology in a university context and am aware of its implications.

With that being said, I'm going to do what I'm going to do. I don't intend to hurt people but rather come up with ways to help people. Just like any other field. So thanks for the warning, but I'll be okay.

Doxin
While not directly synthetic biology, you would probably do good to watch "The thought emporium" on youtube[0]. By watching this channel, doing your own research, and following along at home, you can learn all sorts of things about genetic manipulation and related fields which is definitely a prerequisite for synthetic biology.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/user/TheChemlife

mygo
Thanks!

Some of this stuff looks like what I've done in biology and chemistry labs. So I'm already familiar with some of the techniques, especially ones that deal with running experiments and using equipment.

The "Biology and Genetics" playlist is interesting and looks like some of those experiments can be followed along.

eykanspelgud
I remember going to a talk where the head of synthetic biology at MIT talked about his work. One of the things he is working on are educational kits for young students. You might want to Google search BioBits.

Last time I checked, the product wasn't readily available for sale, though I wish it were. Aside from that, there really isn't a kit the way you would purchase a chemistry kit.

If you were to pursue this as a hobby and would like to approach this without a kit, I would suggest you at least make sure you have the money to do it. The equipment, reagents, and analysis is incredibly expensive.