December 29, 2008
Just in case you thought the future was going to be "business as usual"
www.sfexaminer.com -- Local News, Amateurs Toil With DNA In Their Homes:
SAN FRANCISCO -- The Apple computer was invented in a garage. Same with the Google search engine. Now, tinkerers are working at home with the basic building blocks of life itself.Posted by John Weidner at December 29, 2008 6:03 PM
Using homemade lab equipment and the wealth of scientific knowledge available online, these hobbyists are trying to create new life forms through genetic engineering -- a field long dominated by Ph.D.s toiling in university and corporate laboratories.
In her San Francisco dining room lab, for example, 31-year-old computer programmer Meredith L. Patterson is trying to develop genetically altered yogurt bacteria that will glow green to signal the presence of melamine, the chemical that turned Chinese-made baby formula and pet food deadly...
