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There was a guy on YouTube who genetically engineered himself to gain lactose tolerance. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3FcbFqSoQY https://www.youtube.com/w
by dlcarrier 10mo ago
There was a guy on YouTube who genetically engineered himself to gain lactose tolerance. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3FcbFqSoQY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3FcbFqSoQY)
It lasted for around a year and a half (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoczYXJeMY4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoczYXJeMY4) before the effect mostly wore off. He took it orally, so it only affected his intestinal lining, and I presume it didn't effect enough stem cells to get a permanent effect, but it would still be usable as something taken annually, which is still far less often than any medication.
- pinkmuffinere 10mo agoWow this is amazing. Definitely the best biology video I've seen. Edit: this is cool enough to deserve it’s own post, Im going to submit it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46405855 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46405855
- amelius 10mo agoAgreed. If this isn't hacking then I don't know what is.
- c1ccccc1 10mo ago̶I̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶n̶k̶ ̶h̶e̶ ̶a̶c̶t̶u̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶g̶e̶n̶e̶t̶i̶c̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶e̶n̶g̶i̶n̶e̶e̶r̶e̶d̶ ̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶g̶u̶t̶ ̶b̶a̶c̶t̶e̶r̶i̶a̶ ̶r̶a̶t̶h̶e̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶n̶ ̶a̶n̶y̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶o̶w̶n̶ ̶c̶e̶l̶l̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶r̶e̶,̶ ̶r̶i̶g̶h̶t̶?̶ EDIT: Above is false. Went back and checked and I had mis-remembered the video.
- pinkmuffinere 10mo agoFrom the video, it sounds like he engineered his own cells. Using a virus that is known for transferring genetic material into other organisms, he added a gene for producing lactase, and then ate it. I suppose that would affect both his gut bacteria and his own cells. But it lasted for ~1.5 years, which probably indicates that it truly was his cells. Also he seems to know what he's talking about, and he claims it was his own cells.
- c1ccccc1 10mo agoYou're right, thanks!
- pfannkuchen 10mo agoCould be placebo though?
- nebster 10mo agoIs there a reason why I'm seeing squares between each of the characters in your message? It's making it pretty hard to read... I'm using Chrome on Android
- p00dles 10mo agoFirefox on iOS, I see strikethrough but the strikes are at varying heights.
- dlcarrier 10mo agoThe text is crossed out using Unicode combining characters of a strikethrough. This allows it to display without any specific formatting support, but it does require that the font support those characters. The font you're using doesn't support the characters, so it displays boxes, instead.
- thrance 10mo agoI thought (maybe mistakenly) that your body developed immunity to the adenovirus used to edit your own DNA, and so this trick could only be used once? Am I wrong?
- fao_ 10mo agoIn this specific instance the code he built used a non-human lactase-enzyme producing gene, which he states in the retrospective is very likely the reason why his immune cells started attacking. There was also the matter of some of the other coding pieces being non-ideal.