I Genetically Engineered *MYSELF* to Fix Lactose Intolerance
The Thought Emporium8 HN recommenders · recommended in 7 months, 2018–2026
demo · general · evergreen · 2018–2026 on HN
The Thought Emporium's host describes making and taking a DIY gene therapy to treat his own lactose intolerance. It uses an AAV virus to deliver DNA coding for the lactose-digesting enzyme, made with biohacker Gabriel Licina's help.
HN keeps citing it as the standard example of accessible DIY gene engineering and self-experimentation, in threads on gene therapy, CRISPR and biohacking.
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12 comments from Hacker News
Interesting is understatement, it's a channel which is one of the closer ones to hard science on the hard science - pop science spectrum and still having more than a million subscribers. Some outstanding videos IMHO: The channel owner applies himself a gene therapy to fix his lactose intolerance. ▶ this video How exactly the Covid Tests work: link Growing Human Neurons Connected to a Computer link Especially the Covid test video was eye opening against the conspiracy theorist propaganda during the pandemic because knowing how tests actually work on practical level makes you see through the claims effort free.
You mean like the guy who in 2018 claimed to have cured himself of lactose intolerance for a while by ingesting a gene-modifying Adenolike virus? [1] No fancy lipid-bubble-riding mRNA necessary. The rest of the channel is pure biohacking gold. The yeast spider silk video is much recommended. [1] ▶ this video
What got me started was probably this from "The Thought Emporium", and other videos on his channel: ▶ this video (obvious don't try this at home disclaimer). What I'm reading right now is "Molecular Biology of the Cell" — it's a dense textbook and I'm taking my time, so only about two chapters in, but I love how it focuses on a lot of fundamental principles and occasionally points out astonishing facts. There's also this series which might be a nice, casual primer: link James Somers also lists some other books in his post I linked to above, might be worth checking out.
If I understand correctly the problem is that if you go to one of their labs they'll cook you a batch in no time (we know the genes, you can order a plasmid that has all the bells and whistles needed to get it made in yeast), but it'd be illegal for many reasons. (They can't sell it without FDA approval for one, they'd need an approved factory for that, and they are infringing on patents.) They obviously can't advertise this, but in videos they almost literally spell this out. So they do this strange outreach instead, with no clear steps in sight. Plus as others mentioned it's easy to buy insulin. ($25 at Walmart.) About how easy it is to make recombinant insulin I recommend this channel: ▶ this video
Check out this video by The Thought Emporium to see how far we’ve come in these matters: ▶ this video This should hopefully provide you with some useful perspective.
Thought Emporium has a decent video where he modifies an Adenovirus to inject the lactase gene into the cells of his intestinal tract. ▶ this video
I'm pretty sure this is the video that describes the whole process, in case you want to hear more about it. (Haven't watched it myself but it's been on my to-watch list for while) Comes from a YouTube channel called Though Emporium: ▶ this video
Yep, they usually use a pseudo virus that doesn't replicate, called an adeno associated virus. Check out this guys video on his own gene therapy for lactose intolerance : ▶ this video
Edit every cell? No. Edit enough cells to impact health outcomes for a meaningful period of time? [Yes]( ▶ this video )
The paternalistic state does not allow you autonomy over your own body. e.g the amount of backlash thought emporium got when he genetically engineered himself to remove lactose intolerance: ▶ this video Risky, but it's his body!
There was a guy on YouTube who genetically engineered himself to gain lactose tolerance. ( ▶ this video ) It lasted for around a year and a half ( link ) before the effect mostly wore off. He took it orally, so it only affected his intestinal lining, and I presume it didn't effect enough stem cells to get a permanent effect, but it would still be usable as something taken annually, which is still far less often than any medication.
I know of at least one YouTuber who took a homemade treatment that alerted his GI system DNA to produce lactase so he could eat pizza again: ▶ this video