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I wouldn’t worry about theoretical garage bio labs. It’s hard enough doing microbiology, molecular genetics, and bioinformatics even with a real lab full of exp
by transcriptase 3y ago
I wouldn’t worry about theoretical garage bio labs. It’s hard enough doing microbiology, molecular genetics, and bioinformatics even with a real lab full of experienced scientists and technicians. The idea of one or two people doing anything threatening even with millions of dollars ignores the fact that nobody has the requisite expertise to not only perform all the experiments and analyses, but somehow keep the equipment running without service contracts.
Good luck getting an Illumina or Agilent tech to your clandestine garage operation to set up and calibrate your gear.
- llm_trw 3y agoYou sound exactly like the old sysadmins who were saying why mysql is a toy that you should never use for your website. Open source science is real and has a barrier to entry that's just your time. Anyone with a biology degree can set up a garage lab today that would have been state of the art in 2010 for under $20k.
- transcriptase 3y agoWith all due respect, you sound like someone with little to no experience with the topic at hand. Having set up a state of the art labs in 2011 and 2015 and having what you’re imagining is the required education, I can assure you there’s nothing myself or anyone else can do with 20k today that’s even in the same arena as the former. And if you’re basing this solely on marketing claims for nanopore… I was a beta tester.
- bloatedGoat 3y agoThe fentanyl crisis should serve as a warning here. Precursors can be made in labs elsewhere and smuggled in and assembled in a lab of nearly arbitrary quality if a hostile nation state was motivated. Perhaps $20k isn't enough but $20M is tiny for a government sponsored program and more than enough to cause catastrophic damage.