18 replies to this topic

[manofsan]

Here's an article I was reading:

http://www.technolog...business/39597/





Would it be possible to compile a list of Do-It-Yourself Biotech resources?

Maybe it's possible to coalesce this broader disjointed community, while also raising awareness among them about anti-aging research. Who knows, among one of these do-it-yourselfers may lie a valuable new idea on how to prove SENS or whatever, by using simpler bacterial or protozoa or insect test-specimens.

If the wider army of Do-It-Yourselfers can be drafted into the anti-aging movement, new ideas may bubble up from them, along with practical demonstrations.

Many heads are better than one.


(PS: I've always wanted to make a Chia Pet that can make its own perfume scent. Anybody know how to do that?)

Edited by manofsan, 22 February 2012 - 07:45 AM.

[manofsan]

So here's an interesting website which that fellow Cathal Garvey participates on:

http://www.indiebiotech.com/



He's posted an interesting article on how to make your own fluorescent yogurt.

Haha, not sure I'd want to ingest my own creations. Maybe I can ask him how to make a fluorescent Chia Pet, though.

Edited by manofsan, 22 February 2012 - 08:21 AM.

[manofsan]

Here's the website for the Open PCR Project:

http://openpcr.org/

I wonder how many other useful procedures could be kitted up like this?
Or what if a Lab-On-Chip device could be made and sold in kit form for DoItYourselfers to use?

[manofsan]

Here's something on a Lab-On-A-Chip teaching kit:

http://www.nanowerk....ewsid=24017.php

What's really needed here is for the Do-It-Yourself Biotech community to compile a list of Lab-On-A-Chip operations that they would like to see available. Then the community could collaborate on coming up with a Lab-On-A-Chip design that could perhaps be manufactured and sold to the community at reasonable cost.

Why bother to make your own home centrifuge, home chemistry set, etc, when it could be made available in a standardized form, perhaps with a USB interface so that you could run it off your laptop? Then everybody could buy this standard Lab-On-A-Chip system, and share their recipes for doing things online. By using the common system, then everybody's reading from the same page when they try out each others' recipes.

If the Lab-On-A-Chip device could connect to a PC via USB, then you could develop a simple API/scripting language to run it. So your recipes/procedures for accomplishing things would be expressed in this scripting language. Scripts could then be posted online to share with everyone, so that everyone could compare notes, and perhaps even improve on each other's work. Now that would be real "Open Source Biology". The evolution of recipes/scripts using the familiar practices of Open Source Computing could significantly accelerate the pace of biotech progress. Many heads are better than a few - this would definitely not be a situation where "too many cooks spoil the broth".

Edited by manofsan, 22 February 2012 - 10:34 AM.

[brokenportal]

I can see potential in this, but I am as of yet unclear on how we can use it to help the cause. This reminds me of a lot of the concepts that AgeVivo has brought to the table and worked on. How about if you continue building a list like this, we can see about eventually pinning it somewhere like the community science section, and then we'll see about, for example, challenging people to take these on somehow, maybe through one on one persuasion, maybe through small money incentives to help get them started, maybe through contests, maybe through promotion via article, Im not entirely sure yet. I would like to see if you could get this to help bolster the amount of science discussion and initiative going on around here. Imagine, for example, a list of resources like this, and then project leaders for this initiative writing to biology teachers and working to get them to challenge their students to come up with simple indefinite life extension orientated tests to perform for small prizes or symbolic awards like a plaque or something. Of course, the Longecity community can also get in on it.

We need to get a better idea of a way forward on this project that can benefit the cause though. Further ideas on that?

[AgeVivo]

Mouse lifespan tests at home:
I had started to do mouse lifespan tests at home, by sharing the experiment accross many homes. Contrary to natural first impressions, it should be very meaningful in terms of doublechecking some lifeextending compounds that was proven to work in a lab environment (we would use a mixture of our environments and mixture of mice; rather than too-narrow-lab-environments and too-narrow-mouse-strains).

• on the one hand it is simple:
  
  • I am now very at ease with having a few mice at home, I know the troubles to avoid (buying a cage that has useless holes in the plastic, adding mice in your cage where mice have already organized their hierarchy), I know the things to do (buy a simple cage with one whole to put a big plastic bottle, put a little fish-water-cleaning-liquid in it (contains methylene blue) to ensure nice water, put absorbant things (wood chops or smoother things) on the floor and add a layer of hay because they like it) my mice at home know me well and are doing very well
  • It is cheap (initial 60$-100$ investment, then a few dollars from time to time), it doesn't require much time (changing your 2 cages every other week for example; if you go to vacations a little more it is not a big issue) after the initial first month of carefull doublechecks; it is fun and there are ways to largely securize that people handle them correctly (asking to send pictures when they change the cage, and to send mini-comments in a forum).
• on the other hand it has one big constraint:
  
  • we need to be at least 20 serious participants during 3 years, to test 1 compound!!!
  • If then we were 100 serious participants worldwide, we could test 5 compounds in 3 years. If then we were 1000 we could test 100 compounds in 3 years (or more, partly benefitting from statistical experience of previous tests), and this would be a very serious boost against cancer (because mice mostly die of cancer, even if not the same distribution of cancers as in humans) and a very serious boost for life extension compared to what is done today, both in terms of science and mindshift throughout the world.

Another constraint is that experimenting at home is permitted or not, depending on countries and what you call experimenting. But here I don't think it is realy an issue because it is really handling a few mouse nicely to try to make them long after some compound has been shown to do so, and the only experiment would be to put the compound in the drinking water. So it would rather make people like and care about animal conditions in general, and has nothing to do with anything invasive (no anesthesia, no syringes, etc), and nothing to do with what those mice usually become (in the animal shop, the sellers told me it was very unusual to see people like me coming back during several years to the shop to buy food and hay: in many families the mice don't last long...)

So far, the list of things that could be tested I think would be NDGA, Aspirin, Rapamycin (or rather everolimus to put in the drinking water), perhaps metformin. Within a few months we should have a slightly extended vision.

Edited by AgeVivo, 11 March 2012 - 10:39 AM.

[AgeVivo]

DIY guys, could one the following things at home, linked to possible life extensions?:

• MAKING iPS CELLS : mouse cell culture + turning them red (or any other color) + generating IPSCs with various methods (various sets of gene activation) ?
  
  • APPLICATION: BODY REGENERATION: the resulting cells could be injected to mice to test their effects. As defined by the japanese expert who developped the now standard iPS techniques (I can't remember his name right now), there is a list of 30 genes that would be interesting to activate, the standard method is to activate 4 of them with lentiviruses, but it was recently improved with 6 of them by people working in South of France with centenarians, and it would be nice to test many other combinations of the 30 genes and see what they do in vivo
• MASSIVE YEAST LIFE EXTENSION TESTS: yeast culture (like beer) + having many many dwells + having an indicator (some color-changing protein?) indicating effects on lifespan

Sorry, currently I don't see simpler things of real interest towards the cause. If you do, don't hesitate to post it here.

[kanzure]

or you can find the broader community here: http://groups.google.com/group/diybio

irc.freenode.net ##hplusroadmap

- Bryan
http://heybryan.org/
(+1) 512-203-0507

[brokenportal]

manofsan, what do you think of AgeVivos DIY mouse project there? Could the both of you take a link to that mouse project response there and see if you can find some support from the people at that google group that kanzure posted there?

Can we set a goal of a minimum of 20?

we need to be at least 20 serious participants during 3 years, to test 1 compound!!!

[brokenportal]

http://www.longecity...__fromsearch__1

You could consider putting fullerene on your list of DIY mouse experiments to gather more data on.

[AgeVivo]

You could consider putting fullerene on your list of DIY mouse experiments to gather more data on.

Started: http://www.longecity...dy/#entry517691

If others want to try also, it could be the beginning of Mprize at home...

[brokenportal]

Would it be possible to compile a list of Do-It-Yourself Biotech resources?

AgeVivo has led the way with a good DIY project with this cutting edge new topic of fullerene. I can see this project taking root if we can capitalize on this spark and turn it into one or two more DIY fullerene mouse studies like this one. Can you start one and or can you contact others that might? If somebody wants help covering their costs then they can lay out a simple proposal here and I can see about helping to get it.

With a little momentum there, a little action to kick things off, I think we would be well on our way to getting a list of resources going.

[Avatar of Horus]

I think that the 'Do it Yourself Biotech/Biology' is an ideal project for smaller organizations like ImmInst, because exactly that is the point of DIYBio: to conduct science and achieve results with minimal costs. For instance establishing a biotech lab capable of serious research with a couple of thousand dollars.

DIY guys, could one the following things at home, linked to possible life extensions?:

• MAKING iPS CELLS : mouse cell culture + turning them red (or any other color) + generating IPSCs with various methods (various sets of gene activation) ?
  
• APPLICATION: BODY REGENERATION: the resulting cells could be injected to mice to test their effects. As defined by the japanese expert who developped the now standard iPS techniques (I can't remember his name right now), there is a list of 30 genes that would be interesting to activate, the standard method is to activate 4 of them with lentiviruses, but it was recently improved with 6 of them by people working in South of France with centenarians, and it would be nice to test many other combinations of the 30 genes and see what they do in vivo.

...
Sorry, currently I don't see simpler things of real interest towards the cause. If you do, don't hesitate to post it here.

I completely agree with this last sentence; I also think that currently the stem cell based body regeneration is one of the most relevant things to be pursued.
The name of the expert you mentioned is Shinya Yamanaka, and since then he has won
the Nobel prize for that achievment.
I think for a research project following the steps and methods of a Nobel winner is a great starting point.

I have some advanced knowledge about biology, etc., but it is still mainly theoretical as I'm rather new to the practical lab work side of it, but I am a fast learner, so I could expand my knowledge on the fly in the needed fields.
Sadly, my present circumstances cannot allow me to get mouse and such, but nevertheless I would like to help this project, from the scientific side: with biological research, engineering design, planning, etc.
(I would also donate for it but currently I am on a delicate balance of incomes/expenses (I am not working in a job, and not intending to do so in the near term), probably next year.)

Since I can do computer programming I also intend to make a computer simulation of all these, e.g. the biological processes, organisms, virtual lab, etc.

As was put by one of the leaders of ImmInst, in the CommunityScience/Science Initiative topic:

You should apply for a grant when you have an age-related research project ready to go.

Therefore I think what we should do is
to formulate a detailed DIY Biotech research project about this mouse stem cell therapy for testing its life extension possibilities,
with the required tools, methods, protocols, costs and such, then you can apply for a small grant to start it, i.e. appending this DIYBio to your already running MPrize@home project, if you (or others) are willing, of course. Probably we can even recruit helpers from local universities.

Another relevant quote, which I agree with, from another ImmInst leading personality, from the SENS/MFURI topic:

That would be amazing if we could do that and then win any part of mprize and use the money for further life extension goals"

With doing this right I think that is possible, moreover in theory it is even probable.

To begin I'd suggest that a distinct topic be created for it, with the title:
'Mouse life extension DIYBio stem cells experiment'

Actually I already thought out a multi step approach (start small, and expanding it later, based on how it fares, the available resources and so on), with my ideas and of yours (agevivo's, by the way reading some of your posts, I've found the majority of them highly relevant and so I think you are a worthy researcher) and of others. With your permission I would like to create the topic and write down my plan with the quotes and the relevant scientific literature. Then we can start with discussing the biology / biotech science, work out the details, etc.

Edited by Avatar of Horus, 30 March 2013 - 10:40 AM.

[kmoody]

If you inject matched undifferentiated iPSCs into a mouse, tumors will form. The tumorgenic potential of pluripotent stem cells is a major concern for those developing therapies in this space, and in my view, injecting pure populations of pluripotent stem cells is not a reasonable therapeutic strategy. However, in principle your DIY approach is a good one. I would be curious to hear what other project ideas you have.

[Avatar of Horus]

If you inject matched undifferentiated iPSCs into a mouse, tumors will form. The tumorgenic potential of pluripotent stem cells is a major concern for those developing therapies in this space, and in my view, injecting pure populations of pluripotent stem cells is not a reasonable therapeutic strategy. However, in principle your DIY approach is a good one. I would be curious to hear what other project ideas you have.

Thanks for the valuable reply.
Yes I know. Of course. You are right, I absolutely agree.
In fact the IPS cells' capability of tumor (teratoma) formation is a main signal of success of the induced pluripotency reprogramming process. By the stem cell based therapy I didn't mean this 'crude' method. Actually in my current experiment framework there are things like: IPSC generating, ex-vivo/in-vitro cell culturing, differentiation, tissue engineering; and the implantation would be only with 'made-young' cells/tissues, with extensive preliminary screening with e.g. AI-based computer vision, etc., exactly for the reason you mentioned, to eliminate the possible tumorigenic cells. I just didn't want to go into to much science details in that already long enough post. I want to write these particulars in that separate topic soon.

As for my other project ideas: I have several ideas in different stages, including science research and financial projects, also outreach campaigns to medical establishment/hospitals and religious circles, computer AI and bioinformatics, etc; I intend to present these in the forum in the coming period as they take more proper shapes.

[Avatar of Horus]

Well, I continued my search in this subject, and I found two interesting articles, which I'd like to share.

The theme was covered by a 2010 Nature article:
Garage biotech: Life hackers
http://www.nature.co...ll/467650a.html

Here is an illustration which is exactly what I had in mind about a laboratory, with the instruments and prices:


The second one was in the Transhumanist magazine, 2009 winter issue, on pages 46-52, available here: http://hplusmagazine...on/2009-winter/


The particularity of this one is that the ImmInst forum is mentioned in it:



***

I thought about another minor project idea, that may worth some consideration:

I've found that there are established DIY-Bio communities around the world, a list of them: diybio.org/local/, even with biotech labs/spaces, and some of them even allows biolab work for a minor monthly membership fee (like 100$), with free training, and other benefits.
I see there may be some possibilities here. I wondering that it would be possible that we find one or two
volunteers in the given area, like bio students with small poster-ads in campuses, and design relevant minor life extension research study. Then ImmInst would buy a one or two month membership in one of these places, and doing the research in that given lab.
Or all of this in a free DIY place if there exists such one among them, or if we can't find volunteers, then someone could be sponsored, like brokenportal said in the 5th post above:

through one on one persuasion, maybe through small money incentives to help get them started

I don't know, but hanging around in a lab in an ImmInst T-Shirt, and answering to the possible inquiries, like: "I am conducting research for ImmInst, or the longecity.org, life extension community." may can increase the awareness/recognition about ImmInst, and even possible that a couple of people there in the various groups (for example a CA DIYBio group on that list has around 2500 members on the facebook) could be lured into the life extension movement and join up as longecity members. In that case even the financial balance of this mini project would be positive.
Or extending all this and developing a long term collaboration between the two, the LE and the DIYBio movements.
I don't know exactly, I'm just thinking aloud.

I also found a topic here, in the Bioscience section, which contains a DIY bio science info-kit, if someone wants to delve more into it.
Open source, DIY biohacking kit
http://www.longecity...biohacking-kit/

Edited by Avatar of Horus, 01 April 2013 - 04:57 PM.

[Avatar of Horus]

A DIYBio article form the Nature protocols:

Inexpensive low-oxygen incubators
Nature Protocols 1, - 2088 - 2090 (2006), Published online: 7 December 2006 | doi:10.1038/nprot.2006.374
Woodring E Wright1 & Jerry W Shay
Department of Cell Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Boulevard, Dallas, Texas 75390-9039, USA.
http://www.nature.co...t.2006.374.html

Abstract
Although the evidence is overwhelming that ambient oxygen is at least somewhat damaging to most normal cells in culture, the expense and effort involved has resulted in few laboratories growing their cells under physiological oxygen conditions. We here describe how to produce, from commercially available plastic wide-mouth jars, very simple gas-tight containers that can be flushed with prepared gas mixtures to produce low-oxygen environments for standard cell culture. This permits any laboratory to easily try the effects of physiological oxygen on their system without the need for dedicated incubators and substantial monetary investments.

Some images from the article's Figures & tables section:
http://www.nature.co...006.374_ft.html
Figure 1: Low-oxygen chambers in use

Figure 2: Chamber construction

Figure 3: Low-pressure delivery system

[Avatar of Horus]

from the New Scientist http://www.newscient...d-cd-drive.html

DIY lab scanner made from standard CD drive

Fixing two additional light sensors to a normal CD or DVD drive can transform it into a highly accurate scanner for chemical or medical tests, Spanish researchers have shown. The team has developed a modified CD drive that detected tiny quantities of pesticide in samples placed on top of an ordinary compact disk.

Biologists and chemists often detect and measure compounds of interest, such as disease pathogens in blood or pollutants in water, by triggering interactions between these compounds and known proteins and antibodies. These immunoassay tests produce further compounds that can then be measured accurately, typically using light.

However, the machines used for light detection are expensive, normally costing between 30,000 and 60,000 euros, says Angel Maquieira, of the Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain.

Maquieira and colleagues found that an off-the-shelf CD drive can be modified to do the same job. While a laboratory machine has to precisely scan samples with light and record the results, a CD player uses similar precision to read the tiny pits that encode music or data on a disk.
...
Maquieira and colleagues soldered two extra light sensors inside a CD player, and used software to control the way the device "plays" a disk.

The first sensor identifies the sector of a disk containing a sample using black marks on the edge of the disk. The second analyses the sample itself, measuring the amount of laser light that is able to pass through the disk.
...
Other researchers have previously used the reading head from a CD drive to scan chemical samples.
... future disk drives may be even more useful, since next-generation systems like Blu-ray and HD-DVD use shorter wavelength lasers that are closer to those found inside laboratory machines."

[John Schloendorn]

Horus, did you ever get to do something like the iPS cell thing? I work on similar ideas. And I still have a lab much like the one with the "tall ceilings" Jata so flatteringly wrote about in the 2009 article you quote. Over the years, its capabilities only increased, if I may say so. I tried the mason jar low O2 culture once. It works great. But it's not true that professional equipment to do the same is necessarily expensive. Here in Silicon Valley, with all this biotech ecosystem around, there are creative ways to requisition stuff like that. And there's money around that funds that kind of stuff too. And lots of like-minded people. Not sure what your situation is at home, but if you're serious about this stuff, it would probably have value to make your way out here sooner rather than later.