Re: [DIYbio] Re: Requesting your thoughts on a yogurt-based nutraceutical platform

Thanks for the discussion everyone! 

We're looking into what's the best way to release something live- live yogurt, or a kit that you can transform in a lab (lacto + plasmids), or something else. Though we're actually interested in making this a product for general sale, hence some of the "err on the side of safety while things are getting worked out" things (like pasteurization before general release), I personally understand the thing that psyches the community of doers and makers here is the ability to open and play and break and fix. (As someone who will spend a whole day and 10x the cost in parts to fix a $19 Target toaster oven just on principle- we do it because we are compelled).  I am intrigued by the idea of plasmids as a perk for a pledge; I'll definitely pitch that at our next meeting. 

Proprietary may be an incorrect way to cast the "sterilization" angle; I think it's more "containment at the source". I don't personally have a problem distributing the DNA sequence of the plasmids we build, for example.

Part of the money we're raising is to deal with these issues and to work with legal people and regulators to actively shape what's going on about how to release GMOs or parts to make GMOs. So, we're wanting to do this, we just want to do it right. I'm all for taking a principled stand, but I don't want to be responsible for catalyzing or causing an overcompensating backlash that hurts or kills this community. And input form you guys about ways to do that is awesome.

So, what do you think? Antony Evans (of Glowingplant fame) suggested kits that are sent to lab addresses, with proper containment and toxic substance licenses/permits (I know, it's simply 10% bleach in a bucket). What else can we do to get closer to what Cathal and Andreas would like?

As for other products- flavors, sweeteners, and luciferase- all cool. Miraculin is fun/funny too.

Thanks again for the conversation, would love to see where this goes!

Best all,

Rich

On Saturday, October 5, 2013 11:21:18 AM UTC-7, Nathan McCorkle wrote:

On Oct 5, 2013 2:45 AM, "Mega [Andreas Sturm]" <masters...@gmail.com> wrote:
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> There is a protein called monellin. It is said to be much, much sweeter than sugar.

I heard a talk by Cynthia kenyon on c elegans longevity research and it showed that even olfactory stimulation by sweet stuff caused an expression response that could eventually lead to similar insulin resistance scenarios (type 2 diabetes).

So it seems moderation is the key to anything sweet regardless of caloric density. That said, seems sugar is a simpler solution if non-calorie sweeteners don't actually taste more /interesting/ than common sugars. Things like miraculin are cool, sugar substitutes aren't nearly as exciting.

> There is also a modified version which is thermostable and surivives 100°C (re-folds correctly again).
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> Would be a nice calorie restricted, still sweet yoghurt.
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> http://openwetware.org/wiki/IGEM:MIT/2006/Blurb
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> Make sure to check out this. You can also give it the taste of banana. Or wintergreen.
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> Definitely would taste nice!
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> On Thursday, October 3, 2013 7:00:39 PM UTC+2, Richard Yu wrote:
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>> Hi DIYbio,
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>> I know many of you have thought quite a bit about hacking yogurt (L. bulgaricus, specifically), and I wanted to solicit your thoughts on a "20% time" fun project some friends of mine and I are pursuing at a natural products biotech startup (http://igg.me/at/yovivo)
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>> -Frameworks:
>> We've chosen resveratrol yogurt as a POC/test project. We are actually serious about bringing this to food production stages, so in addition to the usual difficulties of biology of just getting it to work period, there are other issues we need to consider- FDA rules/regs surrounding eating a microbial GMO product, and how to actively engage with other communities that may not be so sympathetic to GMOs. Sure, many of us have a dream of having a milk-based platform for making whatever nutraceutical or med or glowing/fluorescent protein or smell or flavor- what are your concerns about such a platform? what do you think the general public's concerns might be?
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>> -Projects:
>> Do you guys have thoughts on specific related projects that might be fun and important? This includes other products (we've gotten about a billion requests for frozen yogurt) or even fun projects we might do to engage with the DIYbio community, perhaps at a space like Biocurious? What are informative things that we can do, and how can we do them, so that won't needlessly fan the flames of anti-GMO sentiment and make our work and play harder?
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>> Thanks in advance for any thoughts!
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>> Best,
>> Rich
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