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.