Research is in progress today to alter DNA in human cells, and this is just the beginning. Community labs, which allow more than just academic institutions and those who own the proper expensive equipment to experiment and contribute to genetic engineering research, are growing in popularity and are already accessible in some places. And though this is still a fledgling field, it is spreading like wildfire, and it will not take long before the research expands to include a dangerous and malicious side. As this work escalates, so too does the need for proper defense.

On a smaller scale, there will be worried individuals who seek a way to prevent gene modification on themselves or their families. On a larger scale, governments and organizations will want to ensure that destructive genetic tampering is not done to their citizens or soldiers. It is critical to develop a line of defense against these kinds of attacks for both scenarios, and this can be done more effectively as a branch of information security. Preventing genetic engineering on the DNA level is just another form of defending information from unauthorized modification.

Do-It-Yourself Genetic Engineering

This type of research was previously limited in scope to those willing to pay the extraordinarily expensive startup costs associated with genetic equipment, such as universities. However, within the last five years, grassroots, non-profit organizations have been working to change that. Genetic engineering has been thrust into the public sphere with the advent of community biology labs run by these organizations. Expensive, previously unavailable tools are now becoming accessible to the populace at minimal cost. For example, bioCURIOUS, located in San Francisco, charges a $100/month membership fee. This fee includes lab space, class discounts, supplies and equipment, storage space, training, and office space. Just the equipment list alone is impressive, with many of the items costing between $1,000 – $4,000 apiece. These kinds of labs have led to less-regulated genetic engineering being undertaken and studied. Anyone with a thirst for DIY biology can attend group meetings, confer with other genetic engineers, biologists, and biosafety experts (amateur or otherwise), and access shared equipment. These groups follow their own code of ethics, some of which require members to research for exclusively peaceful purposes, while others do not.

But, the FBI are still wary. To try to spot any potential issues, the agency encourages biohackers to adopt a neighbourhood-watch-style approach – to be the “first-line defence” against “nefarious actors”, as Craig Fair of the FBI's Counterterrorism Division in San Francisco put it during the Walnut Creek workshop. The biohacking community in the US has largely responded in kind. Collectives such as Genspace in New York began working with the FBI early on, and the agency even helped them in their dealings with the local fire safety and health authorities. A spokeswoman for the agency told us there is currently no surveillance or investigation of any biohacker labs. No lab ever had to be closed, and DIYbio activities have “absolutely nothing criminal about them”. The experiences by now “are overwhelmingly positive”, she added. That’s the official line, anyway.

Paradoxically, and this says something about the uncomfortable nature of policing in the current clime, by hosting this conference over the last 3 years and expanding the list of invitees each year, the FBI has become one of the most important institutions in the global spread of DIYBio. The number of people involved in DIYBio is small enough that practitioners can get to know one another on a personal level. Of course, this can only become possible if an organization with deep pockets is willing to fly everyone to the same location so they can spend time socializing. With no academic or industry organization to sponsor them all, the FBI conference is the only way DIYBio can have a venue to share ideas and socialize face to face. No doubt, next year there will be more DIYBio labs and they will be better organized and their projects more complex due to the FBI sponsored conference. This too must be a commandment of the new FBI: Establish a symbiotic relationship with that which you wish to police and your budget will never be lacking.