Pushing the P1

Introduction

Having a lab space and instruments is one thing, possessing the tools to do real biology is another thing. For close to two years now, the Hackuarium community has built a space, where people can work on projects related to biology amongst other fields. The pretension of the international DIY bio scene, or closely related biohacking scene, is to bring to the people the tools to perform and work on the whole range of biological applications, as qualitatively and cheaper than what the industrial or academic institutions do. To achieve such level, the Hackuarium lab has to be upgraded to a higher level of competency. This level is the P1 biosafety level were genetic manipulation open the door to a vast range of research topic and engineering opportunities. This scientifically enriching, yet delicate step, is now in motion but in order to start practicing several items involving legal, technical and community topics have to be settled. Indeed, our laboratory practices and transparency as a citizen lab have to be absolutely irreproachable. The challenges we face are described in this document. Hackpad first exploration document : https://hackpad.com/Wanna-go-P1--I8F1GOCYTR9

Timeline

Here is the basic timeline we will try to keep in order to make the project move on. It is obviously a "best case scenario" approximation.

Pivot Points

Here we develop and tackle down the most critical points of this project. The idea is to estimate if our space can accommodate such an infrastructure and if our community has the shoulders to carry the necessary responsibilities.

Waste eliminations

Here we describe who can and accepts to eliminate our wastes at what cost and try to estimate the frequency of elimination. We base the frequency on a per project base. How many liters of cultures are produced per production? How many biowaste bag can be filled in a week? etc...

Calculated base costs

Here we estimate the cost of starting the whole setup. Taking a standardized transfection method, expression method, cell line and antibiotic for the whole lab, how much would it cost to start it up? What are the most important enzymes? Are there opensource alternatives?