Why Geneticists Need Designers: Making DNA Into Art | Hacker News Reader

Why Geneticists Need Designers: Making DNA Into Art

blog.scienceexchange.com

32 pointsabbottry19 comments

I think the idea of DNA portraits are pretty cool. Could make for a cute (albeit pricey) family portrait.

Is this service affiliated with DNA11? This service seems very similar, right down to sizes, pricing, and colour options.

They also provide DNA canvas art. ( https://www.dna11.com )

They are not associated, although yes they are quite similar. DNA11 (a cool service) is really focused on just a business around selling art, while Kishan has bigger plans -- art is just a logical first step in visualizations.

This is such a well written post.

"Design by definition is the study of how people emotionally respond to an experience."

This is one of the most concise definitions of design I have come across.

I wish I could've seen a sample of what I am buying but the idea is awesome.

He has a few photos posted on his page at Science Exchange https://www.scienceexchange.com/facilities/genetik-ink

It is a good definition. Something about influencing/shaping the experience should be included, too.

It's interesting to see how the word "Design" is getting a more and more specific definition related to people and cognition.

As an engineer, I'm starting to be forced to call my designs "engineering designs", because people already associate "design" only with visual/industrial/interaction design.

As personalized medicine becomes more mainstream, it will be important to use accurate terminology in general overviews like OP's website. For example, 23andme does not provide DNA sequencing. Instead, they evaluate samples against a comprehensive panel of small nucleotide polymorphisms. This "fingerprinting" is informative and actionable, but not technically sequencing. In the same way, I doubt whether Genetik Ink will actually "take your DNA, sequence it, and turn it into an artistic representation" for <$500 (full genome sequencing is still $5000+, though dropping quickly in cost).

That is a good point. What we do is Sanger sequencing. This is sequencing of up to 500bp of DNA and not the whole genome. This type of sequencing is much more affordable.

I guess this is a cool business idea. The science of decoding the genome into useful information is still in its infancy (I think). This means that right now having your genome sequence is of limited use because there will so much of your genome that we don't understand yet (again, I could be mistaken).

These individuals have found a way take this developing technology and sell it. Kudos to them.

Does anyone know what type of sequencing technology they are using? Would the authors care to share?

We are using Sanger sequencing technology.

Is there any specific reason why you use Sanger instead of, let's say, Illumina?

Because in my experience Sanger is slower and more expensive than Illumina or any of the other 3rd-gen-sequencers...

The unspoken story here is that Science Exchange is more than just a resource for scientists. It also lowers the entry barrier for scientific start-ups.

I suspect that Kishan doesn't have access to a sequencer himself, he just proxies the sample to one of the SNP Genotyping services on Science Exchange (https://www.scienceexchange.com/services/snp-genotyping).

This has been around for a long time. You can't really confirm that it really is your DNA, since DNA can be cut in a variety of ways.

Just found out you can do it for your dog's DNA as well!

Yep. They have a DNA collection kit specifically made for dogs. I just ordered one for my dog.

Yes so far we can create a portrait of your dog and soon we will be able to make cat portraits as well.

Oh, they talk big about communicating with the patient. But what they actually want to do is take some of the _most private data I could ever provide_ and make a PICTURE out of it.

Uhh, thanks?

You bring up a good point. We have a privacy policy in which our lab does not know the name of the customer through the entire process ensuring confidentiality. We also delete your DNA after 30 days when your guarantee expires. Finally to ensure your identity protection, we do not sequence your entire DNA. We only sequence a portion. You can think of this as only having the first four digits of a credit card. To actually have an even better idea, imagine only having one digit of your credit card. That's the amount of DNA that is sequenced in respect to the entire human genome. When taking these measures into consideration, we believe the issue of personal identification becomes non-relevant.

I am also open to other concerns that people may have.I'll do my best to answer them. Please feel free to ask more questions.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com