Biohacking and DIYbiology North of the 45th Parallel

Presented at HOPE X (2014), July 19, 2014, 8 p.m. (60 minutes)

In the past few years, there have been foundational developments enabling hobbyists and seasoned professionals to research and develop the life sciences outside of classical institutions. Known as DIYbiology or biohacking, this shift in the bio-world takes its inspiration from mature hacker and open source cultures. In this panel, Canadian biohacker successes and struggles will be presented. Current legal, economic, and political landscapes that affect Canadian and global biohackers will be discussed and compared. What constraints and challenges are faced when it comes to doing synthetic or molecular biology outside of its conventional confines? How is the community membership growing and what does it take to accelerate this growth? Lastly, what growth are we anticipating for independent and open biotech research, as well as inter-laboratory and international collaboration? And how can the audience and other hacker communities get involved in this exciting shift?


Presenters:

  • Kevin Chen
    Kevin Chen is from Ottawa and is currently a masters student in McGill's bionanomachines program. His background in synthetic biology and DIYbio comes from leading award-winning teams in the iGEM (International Genetically Engineered Machine) competition while at Queen's University, and he also explores new ways of doing and sharing science while working for Synbiota, an online platform for collaborative and open science research.
  • Connor Dickie
    Connor Dickie is cofounder and CEO of Synbiota.

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