Biohacking has been prevalent for years, from body builders using anabolic steroids to artificially increase their physique, to the contemporary, more formalized counterculture of individuals who opt to implant electronics under their skin, ranging from Bluetooth dongles to USB drives.
When it comes to health, no group have had more attention in recent years than those who are basing their biohacking on the Nobel prizing winning discovery of CRISPR-CAS gene editing. This incredible technique uses billion-year-old bacterial machinery that evolved as a response to viruses manipulating bacterial genetic codes for their own survival.
The CRISPR-CAS complex can find specific pieces of code in a genetic sequence, precisely cut out that sequence, and replace it with another sequence entirely.
After its discovery in 2012, it took researchers less than a decade to harness the power of this machinery to remove faulty pieces of genetic code that cause disease and replace them with different sequences that can either counteract that disease or entirely modify the diseased code. This effectively rewrites the story for those who were previously bound to a devastating genetic fate. The first application for disease will be commercially launched by CRISPR Therapeutics and Vertex Pharmaceuticals in 2024 for their CRISPR-CAS9 therapeutic called exa-cel in Sickle Cell Anaemia and Transfusion Dependant Beta-Thalassemia.
The Biohacking movement believes that manipulation of genetic code should not be a privilege allowed only to governments, industry, and regulators, and instead should be open to everyone and anyone. This belief moves beyond mere philosophy when, thanks to companies like THE ODIN, and their evangelical founder Josiah Zayner, anyone can now purchase DIY CRISPR kits for under $200 and edit their own genetic code.
So now to that story of the genetic upgrade…Those familiar with SXSW will be unsurprised that it attracts those on the periphery of mainstream culture, including genetic biohackers. So, when we find ourselves at SXSW in a bowling-alley-come-skate-rink on the outskirts of Austin one evening during the festival, it shouldn’t have come as a surprised that we could win a chance to have our own genes edited.
In an event that was part 90’s school disco, part scientific science fair, part cultish retreat, we weren’t entirely sure if it was all harmless fun, or if the fizzy-pop being consumed, whilst we stared at art work that described itself as ‘the mutual mediation between human physical intimacies and contemporary technical forms’, was going to be laced with cyanide or not.
90’s school disco / death cult
Our hosts that evening informed the approximately 200 attendees, who were primarily white males with ponytails, about the upcoming raffle. The proceeds from this event would be used to fund ongoing open-source research for disease treatment using CRISPR technology. Winners could win rare NFTs of the first human experiments using CRISPR to treat HIV, and one fortunate participant would even win the opportunity to have their genes edited in an unregulated offshore location(?!!), apparently enabling them the ability to consume alcohol without experiencing a hangover.
The good news: The pop seemed to only contain artificial colorings and flavors.
The bad news: We didn’t win the anti-hangover genetic upgrade.