Do-it-yourself biology on the rise - 20 Dec 2009 - SF Chronicle (pdf)
SF Chronicle reporter Juliane Guthrie interviews Tito Jankowski, Phil Ross, Jason Bobe, and Raymond McCauley about the DIYbio projects they are working on. They also interviewed Drew Endy about safety and regulatory concerns. The article is online at SFgate.com.
One of the article’s main thrusts is concerned with safety and regulation, or the lack thereof. I know diybio-nyc has been thinking about it and is organizing a round-table in a month or so, and I’ve been throwing a couple of ideas around with people here in boston. Maybe it’s time to set up a safety working group to synthesize the community’s thoughts on the issue with pointers to relevant resources. Is anyone doing this already (there’s some info in the faq).
Happy holidays,
Mac
DIYbio 
Most of what is being done is no different from gardening, cooking, or beer making. People are scared because of the words that are used to describe it. In Boston, blinking LED lights can get you into trouble. The words used should be chosen with care. If something is dangerous, then by all means, talk about what saftey protocols to follow. Maybe the amateur science community needs to organize like the Ham radio crowd. If amateurs could perform safety inspections for each other and issue safety certifications, then maybe things won’t be so scary, and the mob can be appeased.
Hey. I got a 502 gateway error earlier today when I tried to access this page. Anyone else had the problem?
Isn’t there already a DIYbio safety working group? I remember being asked and joining one several months back…
DIYbio ? Blog Archive ? Do-it-yourself biology on the rise – SF Chronicle adler@gigemail.net