Have you heard about do-it-yourself genetic engineering kits?

Asked by LostInParadise (31914

) May 21st, 2017

I was listening to an NPR segment about do-it-yourself projects. One of these spoke about kits you can buy that allow you to do genetic engineering in your kitchen. I had heard the term CRISPR before, but was not very clear what it was and did not know that it can be used at home. My initial reaction was to imagine all kinds of dangerous mutant organisms being let loose, but the show said that this was not anything to worry about. I can’t find a link to the NPR story, but I did find this

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Amazing, and great for anyone who hopes they are genetically connected to, say….Sir Lancelot (like Meryl Streep was in ‘Defending Your Life’).

I for one don’t want to know. I have enough trouble sleeping as it is, knowing about relatives who I already know who they are…..

Anyway, thank you for posting. I learned something today.

PullMyFinger (3870

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For $130 -$160 the kit looks like fun. It does not allow you to edit human genes but it comes with everything you need to modify a yeast or common bacteria.

From the article: “Zayner says the kits will contain everything a budding scientist needs to carry out CRISPR experiments on yeast or bacteria. For US$130, you can have a crack at re-engineering bacteria so that it can survive on a food it normally wouldn’t be able to handle, or for $160, you can get your eukaryote on and edit the ADE2 gene of yeast to give it a red pigment.”

If i had a young child I’d gladly give something like that

LuckyGuy (43691

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