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Build Your Own Virus

Posted by michael on from the just-like-sea-monkeys dept.

Wire Tap writes "Scientists have assembled the first synthetic virus. The US researchers built the infectious agent from scratch using the genome sequence for polio. The most amusing part is this snippit: 'To construct the virus, the researchers say they followed a recipe they downloaded from the internet and used gene sequences from a mail-order supplier.' Heck, don't we all have our own mail-order suppliers for gene sequences?"

10 of 324 comments (clear)

  1. Finally! by Joe+Tie. · · Score: 5, Funny

    From the article: injected it into mice to demonstrate that it was active. The animals were paralysed and then died.

    After decades of research, advances in biotechnology finally creates the long fabled "better mousetrap".

    --
    Everything will be taken away from you.
    1. Re:Finally! by Kredal · · Score: 3, Funny

      Polio didn't kill the mice... the scientists were just careless and injected the saline solution into the mice's spinal cords, causing paralysation, and then death.

      False alarm, nothing to see here...

      --
      Whoever stated that signature sizes should be limited to one hundred and twenty characters can just go ahead and kiss my
  2. A new virus?! by Schmelter · · Score: 5, Funny

    Great, another computer-engineered virus.

    No wonder my roomate has been screaming "I send you this file in order to have your advice. See you later. Thanks. " while throwing porn at me and defacing my website. Fortunately, I was able to powercycle him with a car-battery.

  3. Oh great... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny
    Damn script kiddies designing their own viruses, how long until they get their own downloadable virus construction toolkit?

    What's it called?

    9o7i0

    kewl! I just made 5m4L7p0x

    Release it dude!

  4. Spit Kiddies! by tchdab1 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Now we'll get hassled by spit kiddies - anyone that can follow a sequencing recepie will be generating these things.

  5. Re:Huge medicine possibility by Subcarrier · · Score: 3, Funny

    *THUDDUD*

    Oooh, verdamnt, not once more! Back to ze dravink board es ist. Igor, clear out ze body and vasche ze beakerz! Schnell! Ich must vork on the formula some more! Hunh...

    --
    "I have opinions of my own, strong opinions, but I don't always agree with them." -- George H. W. Bush
  6. Re:Huge medicine possibility by nick357 · · Score: 5, Funny

    "I may not have morals, but I have standards."

    When someone who is in the business of "using a modified adenovirus to deliver a suicide gene", is using a sig like this, it scares the bejeebers out of me...

    --
    Word game?
  7. Shades of Jake Brundlefly by gelfling · · Score: 3, Funny

    Do it yerself gene sequencing...ooops

  8. Genetic Recombination Lab in highschool by bsDaemon · · Score: 2, Funny

    in my AP Biology class we made a strain of e.coli that was resistant to the antibiotic ampicilin. That was pretty fun. We also got them to turn green when they broke down lactose (or glactose...which ever is bigger...i forget).
    I guess this is more impressive though. I want to be a bio major in college, so i hopefully will get to do some neat stuff like this.

  9. Mail Order Gene Sequences by CaptainCarrot · · Score: 4, Funny

    They should be very, very careful. You never know what might happen with mail-order gene sequences, or genetic material from eBay or such places.

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    And the brethren went away edified.