Chapter 9. #ScienceHack SynBio Hack-a-Thon
Last March at SXSW Interactive, we announced #ScienceHack, a collaborative, open-science effort to make real medicine using synthetic biology. #ScienceHack was born out of the idea that with today’s technology, it should be cheap, quick, and easy to create a life-science hack-a-thon that would bring people together for education, innovation, and the development of new materials, medicines, food, and fuels.
Hack-a-thons have been a global phenomenon, exploding in number over the past 15 years. This is possible because computers and free, sufficiently user-friendly development platforms like Linux and Arduino are readily available. Hack-a-thons attract innovative and risk-tolerant people eager to build something cool and maybe stay up all night doing it. As a result, hack-a-thons have become a breeding ground for new start-ups, IP, and art.
#ScienceHack is a series of individual life-science hack-a-thons that are connected by open-science methodologies, web-based tools, and an integrated, common wetware kit. Each #ScienceHack includes six hours of DNA design and build, split equally across two days, and at least one follow-up session to view and record results. The goal is simple: design and build the most efficient and robust violacein-producing E. coli colony the universe has ever seen, learn a lot, and have fun!
What Is Violacein?
Violacein is a naturally occurring dark violet material that has shown promising antibiotic ...
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