5 ms·

Here's a transcript of a recent talk given by Josiah Zayner: http://diyhpl.us/wiki/transcripts/diy-human-gene-therapy-with-crispr/ http://diyhpl.us/wiki/transcr

Here's a transcript of a recent talk given by Josiah Zayner: http://diyhpl.us/wiki/transcripts/diy-human-gene-therapy-with-crispr/ http://diyhpl.us/wiki/transcripts/diy-human-gene-therapy-wit... [20:40] “If you look at Step 3 - which is, uh, you know, I like steps and lists, they are awesome - uhm, there are actually websites out there that have this infrastructure completely built. You can go in, type in the name of a gene. Not even the name, you could type in the name you think a gene should be named, and what it will do is predict the best guide RNAs, the best 20 bases, to use, so that Cas9 enzyme can cut in your genome in this exact place." "Literally, you don’t have to do anything, right? You have to go in, type in the name of a gene, and press enter, and you could modify yourself with CRISPR. Right? That’s what this DNA basically is. This DNA, if you think about, took me about 5 minutes to make. Actually, it happened so fast, I had to go back and verify it a couple of times. I didn’t think I could create DNA that could modify my own genetics with CRISPR in 5 minutes. Now, if that doesn’t blow your mind, I, I really don’t know what does. And, the next question comes down to, 'What’s holding us back; what’s stopping us?' And I dunno, to me, I, I don’t really know what’s stopping us, you know? I, I think about it a lot, because, I have this really, you know, bad snaggle-tooth, and I think like what happens if I could change that?" "No but if you think about, people are born with things that they have no decision over. And then everybody else says, 'Oh, no, fuck you, I'm athletic and 6 feet tall and, you know, good looking, and you just, you just, the genetic lottery - you lost. That's the truth. You lost the genetic lottery and you have to suffer through it.' How does it make sense?" http://www.the-odin.com/diyhumancrispr http://www.the-odin.com/diyhumancrispr personally i'm down to fund projects like this, so if any of you are interested, get in touch & let's deploy.

ben_w 9y ago
Back in the days of Mac OS classic, there was a tool called ResEdit. You could use it to explore and modify apps. Or the core OS. While it was running. It warned you this was a bad idea, but I did it anyway. It took ten years before I saw a computer lock up that hard again. That’s how I see humans DIY hacking their own genome. If you’re lucky you’ll get what you were after. If not, you now have sexuality transmissible lycanthropy which (as a side effect) lobotomies you as your new skull shape was designed by an artist and not a biologist.
- colechristensen 9y ago
  It doesn't really work like that though. The genes that cause much of your form dictate growth processes between embryo and adulthood. If you could change them everywhere you wouldn't change at all. But it's also not how CRISPR/CAS9 works either. Gene therapies usually involve a process of extracting stem cells, modifying a small number of them in vitro, growing them, and then either using them to grow tissues out of the body for later implantation, or injecting them into targeted tissues. It's not an injection you take that goes out and edits every cell and you magically change shape. It makes for good scifi, not so much good science.
  - craftyguy 9y ago
    > It's not an injection you take that goes out and edits every cell and you magically change shape I don't think that's what they were referring to. It seems that the concern is you make an edit, it is unsuccessful in implementing whatever you wanted but also breaks something critical (e.g. proper skull formation), and that gene is passed to your children who then suffer the consequences. That seems feasible to me, but I'm not a bio expert, don't play one on TV, and haven't stayed in a Holiday Inn in years.
    - ben_w 9y ago
      Your suggestion is much more plausible than mine, especially as it won’t be noticed for at least 9 months after the modification. I was mainly inventing a nicely dramatic failure mode that seemed plausible on the assumption humans are just a bunch of self-replicating chemicals, so you could inject genes that say “send self-destruction signals to nearby cells that have not been modified like me, then grow into the gap they leave in [shape of new structure]”, much like the sexually transmitted genital cancer dogs can get that was in the news a while ago.
    - jopsen 9y ago
      I guess you can backup your genes by putting seed/eggs on ice :)
    - colechristensen 9y ago

ben_w 9y ago

Back in the days of Mac OS classic, there was a tool called ResEdit. You could use it to explore and modify apps. Or the core OS. While it was running. It warned you this was a bad idea, but I did it anyway. It took ten years before I saw a computer lock up that hard again. That’s how I see humans DIY hacking their own genome. If you’re lucky you’ll get what you were after. If not, you now have sexuality transmissible lycanthropy which (as a side effect) lobotomies you as your new skull shape was designed by an artist and not a biologist.

colechristensen 9y ago
It doesn't really work like that though. The genes that cause much of your form dictate growth processes between embryo and adulthood. If you could change them everywhere you wouldn't change at all. But it's also not how CRISPR/CAS9 works either. Gene therapies usually involve a process of extracting stem cells, modifying a small number of them in vitro, growing them, and then either using them to grow tissues out of the body for later implantation, or injecting them into targeted tissues. It's not an injection you take that goes out and edits every cell and you magically change shape. It makes for good scifi, not so much good science.
- craftyguy 9y ago
  > It's not an injection you take that goes out and edits every cell and you magically change shape I don't think that's what they were referring to. It seems that the concern is you make an edit, it is unsuccessful in implementing whatever you wanted but also breaks something critical (e.g. proper skull formation), and that gene is passed to your children who then suffer the consequences. That seems feasible to me, but I'm not a bio expert, don't play one on TV, and haven't stayed in a Holiday Inn in years.
  - ben_w 9y ago
    Your suggestion is much more plausible than mine, especially as it won’t be noticed for at least 9 months after the modification. I was mainly inventing a nicely dramatic failure mode that seemed plausible on the assumption humans are just a bunch of self-replicating chemicals, so you could inject genes that say “send self-destruction signals to nearby cells that have not been modified like me, then grow into the gap they leave in [shape of new structure]”, much like the sexually transmitted genital cancer dogs can get that was in the news a while ago.
  - jopsen 9y ago
    I guess you can backup your genes by putting seed/eggs on ice :)
  - colechristensen 9y ago