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Am I still lactose tolerant? - Lactose Gene Therapy Update

The Thought Emporium3 HN recommenders · recommended in 3 months, 2020–2026
YouTube
explainer · general · 2020–2026 on HN

The Thought Emporium's update on the home-brewed gene therapy he took to cure his lactose intolerance. It reports how the effect held up over two years and what future versions might look like.

Pointed to as a striking example of DIY biology and self-experimentation with gene therapy.

10 comments from Hacker News

@stuntkite2021-06 · in “CRISPR gene-editing breakthrough opens door to treating broad array of diseases”

His YouTube channel The Thought Emporium, is amazing. He just moved into a new lab and I really appreciate what he’s working on and how he communicates it. The robot painting fluorescent proteins is neat and recently he dropped a video demonstrating his adventures making synthetic opal. Apparently the edit made him totally lactose tolerant for over a year and now he has very mild lactose intolerance. He says he hasn’t redosed because he wants to improve the plasmid (I think that’s the right term, BUGFIX probably isn’t right) before he takes another run at it. Here’s his update video from last year on that endeavor. ▶ this video

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@jcims2020-12 · in “Girlfriend warned Nashville police Anthony Warner was building bomb a year ago”

With a germ you can kill a few million people - link link link link If you want to see someone do cool stuff with the above: ▶ this video link

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@freezing_coffee2020-07 · in “The Thought Emporium”

Have been a patron for some time, and discovered his channel with his lactose gene therapy video - to which he recently posted an update: ▶ this video . Great addition to scientific youtube.

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@haxiomic2026-08 · in “AI Can Now Design Functional Viruses. Should We Worry?”

There’s YouTubers who do this [0]. I’d argue estimate the risks of a synthetically induced pandemic of massive impact this century are very high - [0] ▶ this video

@dlcarrier2025-12 · in “Scientists Edited Genes Inside a Living Person for First Time, Saved His Life”

There was a guy on YouTube who genetically engineered himself to gain lactose tolerance. ( link ) It lasted for around a year and a half ( ▶ this video ) 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.

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