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<TITLE>Re: [Noisebridge-discuss] Another DIYbio thread! </TITLE>
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<FONT FACE="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:11pt'>Hello all at NB,<BR>
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I helped the DIYbio group with the experiment over the weekend, and would like to provide some information on the current situation & thoughts on future relations.<BR>
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The experiment which was begun over the weekend is essentially the “hello world” of synthetic biology: transforming a plasmid containing the GFP gene into E. Coli, so that the bacteria will fluoresce under UV light. It is very basic and many of the materials used in this experiment are from a kit that is routinely used in high school biology labs. There are materials in this kit that you shouldn’t ingest like a Calcium Chloride solution which you shouldn’t ingest, but doesn’t pose a particularly great safety risk, and I am sure there are many liquids and other objects at NB that you shouldn’t ingest either. There is also a laboratory strain of E. Coli in the kit (not the same as the pathogenic strains you often hear about causing food contamination). This should actually be safe for people with normal immune systems to ingest, though there should be no reason for anyone to do this, and the closed culture tubes sitting in a dedicated fridge should pose no risk to anyone.<BR>
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I helped the group create this safety guidelines & protocol page <a href="https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Noisebridge_Lab_Safety_and_Ethics_Page">https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Noisebridge_Lab_Safety_and_Ethics_Page</a> . I believe these guidelines & protocols suffice for the current “hello world” experiment, though not necessarily all work going forward. If you look at the bottom, I pointed out that NB does not have proper hazardous materials processes or licenses in place, and therefore I believe that these materials should not be brought into NB at this time. I also just updated your Safety wiki page to link to the lab safety page as well.<BR>
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I do have some thoughts and concerns with things moving forward which are really just coming from myself (not representing the entire SF DIYbio group here), but this seems like a good time to share them.<BR>
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First as others have pointed out there is clearly some communication problems between these two groups, and I think the idea of making Praveen an ambassador would be excellent. I can’t really play this role as I’m not able to regularly attend your meetings and am not that familiar with NB.<BR>
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But secondly here’s some thoughts on NB/DIYBio. As I mentioned above, the experiment the group is currently doing is really basic, and NB has been very generous in letting this group use its space. I think there’s going to be a limit though in how much the group is going to be able to achieve in this current environment. I’ve only visited NB twice, and what I’ve seen is an awesome bunch of shared hardware hacking equipment, shared table space, some storage space, and everything is totally jam packed :) That’s not that different than a bio lab, except that the shared equipment is rather different as well as the types of surfaces. We’ve seen the space issues just a single fridge has brought, but such a fridge is just one small part of common lab equipment. I really like the environment and group governance systems that NB has setup, and I think DIYbio could benefit a lot from this, as well as the proximity to all of the other work going on at NB (there is a lot of hardware hacking needed as well for biology). I just think that at a point, a larger amount of dedicated physical space is going to be required for equipment storage, safety equipment (fume hood/bio safety cabinet), safe storage of reagents, etc. NB wouldn’t be what it is if it didn’t have room for all the equipment it currently has.<BR>
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I’m throwing this out there now to get your take on this and see what the interest level is in potentially creating such a space if you were to expand (can’t really see how it could be done without expanding given the current size of the space). If there might be interest it would be good to figure out what it might take (i.e. there would have to be X new members to support the space financially). If more involved work was to take place at NB, then it probably would also be necessary to figure out how to safely store chemicals that are much more dangerous than those being discussed at present, hazardous waste disposal processes & permits, necessary segregation of activities, etc.<BR>
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I think part of the problems being experienced is because SF DIYbio is currently in a bit of a neitherland in terms of its home and needs to eventually pick a location and settle down. The group is currently looking at a number of options, of which NB is one, and if NB is to become the home, then eventually this relationship needs to become more formalized (with DIYbio members becoming NB members etc). If another location becomes the physical home, I think there may still be many interesting opportunities for the two groups to collaborate on projects. And regardless, NB has been very generous with its space while this all gets worked out, and I hope everyone recognizes this.<BR>
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-Josh</SPAN></FONT>
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