Hacking With Synthetic Biology 135
blackbearnh writes "If you've gotten tired of hacking firewalls or cloud computing, maybe it's time to try your hand with DNA. That's what Reshma Shetty is doing with her Doctorate in Biological Engineering from MIT. Apart from her crowning achievement of getting bacteria to smell like mint and bananas, she's also active in the developing field of synthetic biology and has recently helped found a company called Gingko BioWorks which is developing enabling technologies to allow for rapid prototyping of biological systems. She talked to O'Reilly Radar recently about the benefits and potential dangers of easy biological design, why students should be hacking wetware, and what's involved in setting up your own lab to slice genes."
Brainy Indian girls (Score:2, Funny)
Ok, I know this is a bit off topic, but brainy indian girls are just oh so hot!
Re:Doesn't this sound like... (Score:5, Funny)
Are you kidding? This will revolutionize the world. Your neighbor (not mine), in an attempt to show that you can't even FORCE nature to make a crocoduck will inadvertently create an airborne strain of E. coli that is resistant to any cheap form of treatment: resulting in a solution to rising unemployment and illegal immigration in less than 38 hours. The resulting global changes will be heralded as Allah's revenge against the great satan and simultaneously on the GLBT communities for their crimes against god. In less than a week, big pharmaceutical industry will collapse with the announcement that a 15 year old Korean kid in S.California has created an antidote that can be distributed in the flavor coating on potato chips. Frito Lay purchases several Pharma companies and hires the kid to work on gene therapies to be distributed via Corn Chips. Monsanto sues to block genetically modified material being added to their corn........ sigh
Marijuana/Tomato Hybrid (Score:1, Funny)
Wake me when someone has hacked the THC gene into the tomato. Just imagine the possibilities - a pizza that gets you high AND alleviates the munchies.
In all seriousness though. Wouldn't it pretty much end the marijuana legalization debate if somebody spliced THC genes into something as common and innocuous as the tomato? Or perhaps something invasive (and edible) like kudzu [wikipedia.org]...
[Posted anonymously so I can still pass the Google-test with potential employers.]
Re:This doesn't give me warm fuzzies (Score:4, Funny)
Wait, now we're using that made-up plural form of virus as the SINGULAR form? Great.
Re:Doesn't this sound like... (Score:4, Funny)
I want to see a cat with wings in active pursuit of prey.
I would also like to see these http://www.genpets.com/index.php [genpets.com]
Why we need more female scientists (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Fine, I'll think of the children (Score:4, Funny)
"Two girls, one cob!"
Eww, no thanks, I'll pass.
Re:Calm down (Score:1, Funny)
We've TRIED to introduce GM organisms into the wild and failed EVERY TIME.
Well, yeah. They're bankrupt. Once someone introduces Toyota organisms into the wild, look out!
Mint and Banana, eh? (Score:3, Funny)
But will she ever bioengineer a Shetty wall? Will the goddamn Mongorians break down her Shetty wall?
Re:Why we need more female scientists (Score:4, Funny)
Of course not. A male scientist would look for a urinary tract infection that made salt & vinegar dressing taste like chocolate.