I'll be honest, when the coronavirus pandemic first started I didn't imagine it would last this long. I am constantly planning and looking to the future and it seemed like some temporary nuisance that the media was blowing out of proportion. It was annoying to see people flock to work on coronavirus related things to further their own agenda. Among those were numerous groups of Biohackers who were pretending to solve problems that they couldn't reasonably solve because of lack of access to the SARS-COV2 virus or animal testing models or both. Despite pleas from many many people to get involved in projects I decided to sit the pandemic out and do what I always do - work on shit that would have long-term benefits to the Biohacking and science community. The pandemic kept going. I really didn't imagine it would last this long.
Then in May 2020, an article came out in science magazine where researchers showed that by using a DNA vaccine that codes for the SARS-COV2 spike protein they could create antibodies and protect macaque monkeys from covid-19. Getting good monkey data is basically the best pre-human data you can ever hope to get. Most people only have mouse data. When I see a paper like this the gears in my brain begin to spin because there is a good chance the FDA would approve this for human testing. From the data it is seemingly both safe and effective. I changed my mind. This sounded like a great project and not just because it was coronavirus related.
This project fits a niche where biohackers have an experimental advantage over academia and industry. With enough knowledge and skill we can perform quick but data laden experiments to show if the same DNA vaccine tested on monkeys would be promising in humans. And instead of taking 2 or 10 years we can have results in two months. Weeks if we wanted to drop an extra $5k.
For the past month Myself, David Ishee and Dariia Dantseva have been working furiously to develop a step-by-step online class on how you can take a paper with animal data like the one above and use it to develop a research plan to collect usable human testing data. Simultaneously, over the course of the next 2 months we will show you the process we went to recreate the SARS-COV2/covid-19 vaccine from the paper and test it on ourselves. From designing the DNA, testing expression in human cells, ELISAs and more. We will explain how one can do advanced Biomedical research DIY and on a budget.
You ain't fucking going to want to miss this.
With a risk averse scientific and medical system Biohackers are the ones who will push things forward in a reasonable time frame.
Biohackers are needed in society.
Whether you think I am an idiot for self-experimenting is not the point. The point is that when it comes your turn to suffer and die at the hands of a disease you will hope there is someone like me willing to risk something to try and help.
Biohackers will be trying for you when everyone else has given up.
How do we get more Biohackers then? The problem at the moment is that there are not many people with enough knowledge and enough crazy doing experiments. Science and medicine has become so stratified into a risk averse elitist system because of lack of diversity. I want to change that. I want anyone who has access to an internet connection to have access to the knowledge required to do advanced Biomedical research. I mean, what if we could do this for any drug? Some people with a little ambition, intelligence and crazy could be testing promising drugs in weeks not years. The test pilots of the biological age.
First class will be live-streamed Sunday June 28th at 11AM PT at https://youtube.com/josiahzayner/
