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comment by thundara
thundara  ·  2899 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: April 20, 2016

Too many Biohazard books, I thought you were talking about this that's been on my to-read shelf for two years now.





kleinbl00  ·  2899 days ago  ·  link  ·  

So funny story, the guy who recommended Alibek's book to me did his Ph. D thesis on recombinant techniques using muffukkin' ebola as the carrier. To no one's surprise, he ended up working at Ft. Detrick.

thundara  ·  2899 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I can only imagine the potential public horror towards ebola-produced insulin...

kleinbl00  ·  2899 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Right? It's so far past the normal "what could go wrong?" high water marks that you expect to hear Dan Akroyd saying it.

thundara  ·  2899 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I mean, I could see it having some niche application. Like rabbies and a few others get used all the time in brain research for transfecting neurons. Though depending on when your friend did their Ph.D, the recombinant controversy conversation could have been focused anywhere from insulin to GMOs to gene drives.

OftenBen  ·  2899 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Ok I understood this conversation right up until your last term.

Gene drives?

thundara  ·  2899 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Illustrated in one simple image!

OftenBen  ·  2899 days ago  ·  link  ·  

THAT IS SO COOL.

YEAH, SCIENCE!

thundara  ·  2899 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Or OH FUCK, SCIENCE! Depending on who you ask.

I'm of the opinion that gene drives should be given a try at least once (Possibly once gene editing tech has plateaued), but given the complex machine of ecology, even that could totally be a disaster.

OftenBen  ·  2899 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Come on bro, mosquitos? mosquitos?

I do think that we should tread carefully, but we have to take a step eventually.

thundara  ·  2899 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Tell that to the mosquito that transfects oncogenes into you while you sleep