Collaboration with the iGEM Team Darmstadt
At the 12th of June, the iGEM Team Darmstadt came to visit us. Due to the technical nature of the teams Darmstadt and Aachen, we have compared how both of our teams are operating. The team organization of TU_Darmstadt is completely different to ours, but nevertheless we offered them an instance in tubefront. The feedback that we got from team Darmstadt helped us to understand how we could improve tubefront.
Apart from presenting and discussing ours as well as their project and spending two fun days together, we invited them to have a deeper discussion about the growing Community Lab scene in Germany. All the participants of this discussion group had quite different knowledge about community labs ranging from having heard about their existence up to being an active member of a community lab.
Together, we had a first evaluation of the general pros and cons of community labs. Our discussion can be subdivided into three main topics: Exemplary Features, Risks & Solutions and Gain.
Exemplary Features
Since Fabian from Team Darmstadt is a member of a local BioHackerSpace (recently founded by the Makerspace Darmstadt) he could give us a first insight into the work, structure
and motivation of biohackers. This particular biohackerspace is motivated by the idea that although there is a great number of life sciences and technical do-it-yourself kits availabe in Germany, as for chemistry, biology and microcontroller based programming, there is none for biotechnology. Therefore the 15 members with various backgrounds like educators, computer scientists, biologists and even one master brewer gathered to perform their own experiments. As Fabian told us and our first research revealed, the few other Community labs in Germany and some more in Europe mainly consist of non-specialist or non-academic people who like to engange in the hobby of performing some biological experiments.
Public opinion: In our previous perception, the fact that everybody who wants to experiment with microorganisms could potentially do so in a community lab scares many people. The main stated concerns were whether these labs are monitored and audited properly. Comtaminations within the lab have to be avoided and even more important GMOs, under any circumstances, may not leave to lab alive!
In digging a little deeper, we listed and discussed some more potential risks and possible solutions:
Risks & Solutions
Neglected risk assessment:
If non-specialists only aquire a superficial knowledge about biology, chemistry and genetic engineering but start working with GMOs and dangerous substances, this can lead to an insufficient estimation of risks potentially followed by harmful consequences.
- If antibiotic resistances are introduced into mocroorganisms and they somehow leave the lab, this could contribute to spreading new resistences to wild type strains. If then pathogens aquire these resistances they possess an increased risk to the population.
- If samples from the environment are collected, biohackers could unintentionally cultivate or even select for pathogens.
- Some Community Labs strive to teach persons to perform DIY Biology "in their own kitchen". If this comes true, there will be rooms of multiple uses, which harbor safety issues. People who are not meant to get in touch with GMOs or pathogens are in danger of exposure. These rooms have to be safe for children, pregnant women and pets.
Insufficient prevention against criminal acts:
Community Labs have to be secure regarding sabotage or theft, to prevent GMOs from leaving the lab alive. Here, RFID tags could serve as theft protection. In addition, they have to be protected against abuse of biological material/samples. For instance, analysing DNA samples from people without their consent/knowledge should be prevented. Especially employers, insurances and other companies would be very interested in getting access to the genetic information and consequent further private or personal health information. This threat to privacy is currently not clearly regulated by law! Indeed, not only analysing but also copying DNA samples from unsuspecting citizens could be used for criminal acts. Theoretically, you could copy and put specfific DNA in the place of crime scenes to frame somebody for a certain crime. How can we prevent such misuse?
Gain
Every new technology and its increasing availabilty harbors potential risks. But in assessment of its usefulness the balance of risks and gains has to be evaluated. If we consider Community Labs, there is a great number of advantages in the growing BioHacking scene, too!
Deeper discussions:
If people have fun in doing their own experiments, they will speak about it with their friends and acquaintances. This can promote having deeper instead of superficial discussions about the features of genetic engineering and synthetic biology.
If the general public has access to methods to determine e.g. what is in their food and everyday products, this will not only lead to a better consumer protection but also to a better acceptance of these methods. The fear of GMOs would decrease if people found out that about 70% of their food and a lot of their everyday life products somewhere in their production chain derive from GMOs or their products.
Educational opportunities:
The more people getting the opportunity to realize their ideas the higher the diversity in performed biological experiments, maybe even leading to accelerated scientific progress.
But also the social progress can profit from the growing community lab scene. On the one hand, Community Labs can cooperate with schools in offering classes to perfom biological experiments. Pupils will get a better insight into the world of biotechnology and synthetic biology.
On the other hand, similar to hobby engineers, hobby biologists could teach their children about main principles of biology at home. Children would not only learn about biology in theory but in their own experience. Just as our generation grew up with personal computers and the next generation with smart phones, in five to ten years children could grow up with synthetic biology.
Conclusion
As our journey through the multifaceted world of Community Labs comes to an end, we completed it by having a concluding skype call with the people who accompanied us at the start, the members of the iGEM Team Darmstadt.
After our last meeting, the iGEM Team Darmstadt had lead a panel discussion about the "Risks and chances of community labs" (please visit their wiki for further information). They shared their results and we shared our experiences in outlining how we helped Community Labs and how Community Labs helped us. We then came to a joint conclusion.
While they focussed on legal aspects, especially the detailed German laws concerning the creation of a lab at home, we layed our focus on infrastructural, educational and social aspects.
The iGEM Team Darmstadt found out that the very strict laws in Germany make the establishment of a biohackerspace rather difficult.
This matches the disparity in governmental support for the different Community Labs we have met. While the German Technik Garage is subjected to a lot of rules and restrictions, the Dutch Waag Society is even promoted by the government to teach about and enable DIY Biology at home.
Having a realistic risk assessment, most of the public concerns can be resolved easily. Especially the putative threat of bioterrorism is an emotional fear rather than a rational one.
On the contrary, a spreading of Community Labs promotes “open science” and possesses an inherent beneficial potential. One of the great benefits would be to give the people the chance to make chemical and biological tests of water quality, food, medicine etc. This would largely increase the consumer protection.
In addition, Community Labs are often very ambitious in their efforts to educate the public. They also contribute to society on other levels e.g. driving forward exeptional aspects as BioArt.
To conclude, we are convinced, that a further growing European Community Lab scene will have benefits for society and science.
However, to promote the establishments of more Community Labs in Europe, we need to review the strict restrictions and increase connectivity through cross-linking networks like Medlife.