Have DIY-Biology And Biohacking Gone Too Far?

Biohacking, a growing movement which includes using biotechnology to experiment on biological systems, including the human body, has gained momentum in makerspaces and community wetlabs across the world. Attention has particularly been sparked by spectacular biohacking stunts being performed in public, and even live-streamed.

Early biohacking stunts included volunteers being implanted with NFC microchips or distributing electric stimulation. Over recent years, these stunts have evolved to be more creative and thrilling. In January, the world watched as Ascendence Biomedical’s CEO, Aaron Traywick, injected himself with a home-brewed untested herpes treatment at a biohacking conference. Voices are increasingly being heard in the community that such stunts are becoming more extreme and dangerous and that there has to be some restraint.

In this interview, Josiah Zayner, founder of The Odin, a company that sells DIY CRISPR kits, and himself no stranger to spectacular live demos, talks about his own notorious stunts. He live-streamed injecting himself with DNA encoding for CRISPR which, in theory, could enhance his muscles. Since then he has gained more media attention than ever, with a mass following of biohackers, but also a backlash from critics.

This has led him to reflect more deeply on his actions and how they have the power to influence others in their biohacking endeavors. Observing recent stunts, where people are just trying to one-up each other over and over, he concludes that “There’s no doubt in my mind that somebody is going to end up hurt eventually”.