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I get pumped up when I think about the future of biotech. My hope is that biotech will evolve in the same way that computing did in the 70’s. Like computer equipment was in the 70s, biotechnology equipment today is expensive and only available to a small number of people. As the equipment drops in price, and becomes more accessible, it opens the door for home-brew biotech. We can only hope that the biotech equivalent of Hewlett and Packard or Jobs and Wozniack will emerge from their garages with breakthroughs that democratize and popularize biotechnology innovation.

Check out this article from io9.com describing the emergence of the BiYBio Club in Cambridge, Mass. If the Seattle, Bay Area and San Diego biotech markets are watching, they should start encouraging and supporting this kind of organization in their own backyards. Consider what the Palo Alto technology market would look like today without the benefit of a few smart people working out of the garages.

A Homebrew Club for Biogeeks [DiYBio]: ”

Back in the 1970s, engineering enthusiasts formed homebrew computer clubs that later gave rise to the first consumer-grade computing machines. A similar movement is afoot in the world of biology. Of course it’s starting in Cambridge, Mass., city of mad scientists. Calling themselves the DiYBio Club, they had their first meeting last month to talk about biology hobbyists and backyard labs. And they’ve started a blog.

Right now, the blog contains a pretty interesting writeup of the group’s first meeting, and a lot of questions about whether biology hobbyists’ time has come. A presentation from bio hobbyist Mackenzie ‘Mac’ Cowell focused on how easy it is to get all the stuff you need for your wet lab online, and also explored the accomplishments of bio hobbyists. Mac described one such hobbyist:

A ham-radio hacker, turned reluctant cancer patient, recently combined his expertise about radio waves with spare parts from his home to build a prototype device capable of targeting the destruction of cancer cells. This device is undergoing clinical trials at two major medical research centers, after attracting investments from venture capitalists and the collaboration of a Nobel Laureate who was intrigued by preliminary results generated from the DIYers garage.

This is exactly the kind of bio-tinkering io9 wants to encourage. And in fact, we’re willing to put our money where our many mouths are and actually hand out some cash to people who are doing DiYbio in their backyards. Oh yes, my pretties. Watch io9 for more details next week!

In the meantime, check out the DiYBio club. They have a pretty active Google group too.

DiYBio [blog]