The Odin Releases their "Open Human Plasmid"

http://www.the-odin.com/blog/a-new-era-of-humans/

"I want to say that I have successfully had the OpenHuman DNA synthesized, turned that DNA into a plasmid vector and sequenced it. I will begin distributing it soon with a protocol on how to add whatever gene you wish or pay someone else a few hundred dollars to add it for you."

Will say, I'm a bit more inspired to tinker with the bio side of things a little more :) Plasmid kits with specific modifications might be on the way in the near future, too? Either way, this should be fun...

Comments

  • edited October 2017

    Can't wait for more on this

  • Oh my, this is cool...

  • So cool, Dont really know what FDA and the European Med Ag will think about it....

  • edited October 2017

    How do you encode which genes are edited?

  • On the purchase page, you'll note at the bottom that it is mentioned that there is an open reading frame between the 5'XhoI and 3'BamhI where you can use restriction enzymes to cleave those locations and insert your gene of interest, or just smack it in with Gibson.

    There are an awful lot of question marks in that diagram, but Josiah does excellent work.

    I bought one and I'll post when it shows up.

  • I gotta say this is f***ing amazing! There are so many questions to consider here when even thinking about using this, but it's actually here. Absolutely wonderful!

  • I don't have very much experience in biology. Can somebody tell me a little more about what something like this can do? What are the implications of being able to (as I understand it) insert genes into human DNA?

  • Far as I can tell, it's meant to enable you to skip the work of designing a plasmid that can work both in bacteria and in humans, so you can just focus on the gene you care about. That's important because to administer DNA to humans you need an aweful lot of DNA if you want more than a few cells to express it. So by having part of the sequence that contains all the stuff that bacteria need to make more DNA, you can make literal buckets worth of the DNA in bacteria, then extract it all, purify it and administer it to humans. There's also other things in there like a section that makes the DNA integrate into transcriptionally active site in the human genome so whatever gene you put in there should be able to function inside the human host. If I'm right and it does integrate like that, it could also make this a permanent change to the human you administer this to. Rather than some plasmids which go into a cell and just sit there. The gene you put in that sort of plasmid only works until the cell carrying it dies and the DNA is destroyed with it. If it's integrated, then when the cells divide, it'll be copied as well so it persists past cell death.

    So as you say, why is this useful? Well it means you can put whatever new gene you want in there and potentially have it work in humans. For a really simple example you could put the code for GFP (green flourescent protein) into the plasmid, and when it ends up in the human, the cells that take in that DNA will start producing that protein and would be flourescent under uv light. Obviously there are better uses for this, be it code for new antibodies, or proteins, or enzymes. It really depends what you want to do. If this works well, it's a great tool to allow for lots of experimentation without the extra work

  • What about this ? Is anyone here involved in ?
    Really cool. But unfortunately as said by chironex if it's based in a plasmid ... Temporally and not 100% effective but.... Man !!! This is only the start line !!!

  • Just because it's in a plasmid doesn't mean it's temporary or ineffective. There are transfection elements there. Plasmid transfection to mammalian cells is a thing.

  • ya there's a process called integration where the plasmid get incorporated into the main chromosome. Makes the change permanent.

  • edited October 2017

    I believe this has also been used to simply culture more of the gene you want and then use that gene in an adeno-associated virus after purifying to modify the DNA. Isn't that essentially what BioViva did? Of course, if you can cut that step out all the better I suppose.

  • Interesting...what practical uses first come to mind for you all?

  • @Suds First thing that comes to mind for me is I have a genetic issue and I am greatly slowing its progression through a pretty intense diet. If I could alter the specific protein my body makes or have my body stop making it altogether, my immune system would stop attacking my cells. It apparently is the same protein that gives me my really dark eye color, so I am curious if altering/removing the protein would make them change to something else.

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