Gene tattoos
What I'd love to do is use genetic engineering to reversibly modify yourself. The context I thought it could be used in was temporary tattooing that would last a few years. You could do this by inserting a colour gene (I was thinking GFP (gree fluorescent protein) as a classic example) into the non-dividing cells in the skin and allowing it to be expressed, thus giving the skin colour. You could get some awesome glow in the dark features (I was thinking maybe like an ET-eske finger flashlight). Since it would be in the non-dividing layer it would eventually go as the expressing cells died off, but if it was put into the deeper dividing cells you could insert an inactivating gene alongside to turn it off should you ever want to (or insert a sequence into the gene to fragment it). The vector could be a simple adeno-associatedvirus or better still simply encase the gene in a liposome and rub it into the skin (as is done for some other gene therapies). You'd have to removed a few skin cell layers such as the stratum corneum but my professor said it should be feasible but I'd get shot down by ethics councils.
The main issues lie with the gene inserting into somewhere where it could disrupt another gene's expression and potentially cause cancer. To avoid this I'd make it have a very low level of expression in case it did end up in a promoter region, so that it would minimise any excess gene promotion.
What do you think? Feasible or crazy?
Also, does anyone have the tecchie know-how/means/balls to do this?
Also, does anyone have the tecchie know-how/means/balls to do this?
Comments
I don't know if this has been suggested but I think that inserting RNA inside a liposome packaging would be a good proof of concept if you have any idea how to do such a thing?
This is where I don't know what would be best:
-Nucleic Acid=pure RNA because I don't want to risk insertion. The length of time the glow is expressed can be dependent on the protein and not the RNA, which I would rather see degraded ASAP after making being translated as having bits of DNA/RNA floating about doesn't seem too safe.
-Administration= If its liposome delivered I assume all you need to do is remove the top layers until you get to the cells you want to target (I'd say any at this point because I don't know) and then rub it in as a cream.
Issues: I have no clue how to ensure migration to the nucleus, but if RNA is used then I don't think this would be a problem. The RNA would probably also avoid any Toll-like-receptor (TLRs) that would be liable to cause reactions to bacterial DNA (which I assume would cause red flags for the plasmid);
@chironex/glims
Any idea how to zwitterion it up?
With reference to the targetting I was hoping maybe a cream with the stuff in applied to scraped skin (to get rid of keratin layer) would suffice in getting it to the right spot.
@chironex
Your ideas about making colour changes to do with time of day are hella cool but I think that it would be waaaay above my pay grade to even think of something like that, though I think that if you could link it to insulin and/or glucagon levels you could make a cool sensor for blood glucose or diabetics.
Assuming I wanted to just go ahead and try this with a plasmid containing luciferin or some other bioluminescent molecule where would I actually buy one of these? If you guys don't know I'll ask around the teachers in my dept. but I'd rather not look like a mad scientist if at all possible.
It'll probably just be excised. That said a GFP derivative could also be a good start if you can find one that gives off a color when not fluorescing