Taking control of our bodies and world
The ease and miniaturization of science is converging with our understanding of human and environmental health. This confluence of new tech and use cases will shift who we consider ‘scientists’ and allow for more citizen scientists or biohackers.
Historically the capital to get a lab up and running and the numbers of people educated in bio was sufficiently low to limit citizen research efforts in bio. However, lab miniaturization and increased efficacy of lab research (<1 week gene editing, gene addition, gene deletions) means that science is much more accessible and impactful. We now understand the causative agents of 10,000+ diseases, with many being discovered each year. This research isn’t only limited to monogenic disease (one gene) but complex diseases too. Moreover the biological toolkit for organisms outside of humans means we use nature’s diversity to solve other problems, besides health and disease. For context, over 200+ organisms have been reported to be edited by CRISPR which opens up tremendous possibilities!
There have been companies (like ODIN - at-home CRISPR kits) and individuals (like Jo Zayner) advocating for citizen scientists and we think this will only continue.
Other Thoughts
