The thing is you need the lab - if you don’t have the incubator and the air filtration systems and the autoclave and the centrifuge and the… then the cells will die or you can’t extract the viruses etc.
You need the lab to do this, and for anyone that has lab access the actual doing - multiplying some viruses - is trivial
if you were to get me in a lab right now, i'd had absolutely zero clue on how to multiply a virus. perhaps i'm old and behind the times.
thing is, i'm not sure about the lab access requirement. i'd expect any number of diy techniques to be functional substitutes. brb, asking chatgpt for more details.
The Thought Emporium[0] on YouTube does homelab DNA editing, grows modified bacteria and viruses, and is currently working on growing human neurons.
I've learned a lot and its very fascinating. I haven't found another maker online doing anything remotely similar. He's like the NileRed for genetic engineering instead of chemistry.
There are 18 million undergrads in the US alone. I would bet that at least half have some sort of basic bio lab class and can use a lab, or has a friend that does and would let them in. There's zero security in undergrad bio labs.
undergrad in molecular biology = 4k. assuming eg CS undergrads don't attend en-masse molecular biology classes and/or have lab access.
edit: and one obvious error, it's graduates with molecular biology degrees, presumably the undergrad population is ~5x larger, for a total of 20k. and presumably the world is larger, so we can throw in another ~5x factor for a total of 100k. still, /orders of magnitude/ smaller than world population with access to the Internet.
there are a /lot/ of broken people in the world. i'd sleep more comfortable they don't get access to step by step instructions in their local language on how to design and spread the next .*pox plague at the cost less than eg a motorcycle.
My majors weren't in molecular biology, just Biotech and Biology. I actually learned viral titering and expansion in cell culture on the job, but nearly every bio undergrad will get a basic intro to cell culture techniques. The specific techniques for amplifying a virus are open to anyone with decent search skills, e.g. https://www.addgene.org/protocols/#virus
