Will I get a transgenic hormone producing tobacco plant for donating? No, the plants that I produce through this first round of experiments won't be distributed. This is because I'm using a bacteria called "Agrobacterium" to insert genes into the plants. This bacteria is considered a plant pathogen, and it is illegal to transport plants that have been infected with Agrobacterium. I'm using Agro because it's a cheap and proven method to get genes into the tobacco plant. It's the best way to make a prototype to act as a proof of concept allowing me to pursue further funding for more in depth research and development. The methods and protocols developed to create this initial prototype will be well documented and freely available online for anyone who want's to experiment with them, and the prototype will be shown in a gallery.

Why are you using Tobacco plants? The tobacco plant has been extensively studied and proven to be a model plant for molecular "pharming" -- for producing pharmaceuticals through agricultural methods. It is very hearty and easy to grow, so in terms of this method of production being open and accessible, it's the perfect plant. It's also very receptive to agrobacterium mediated transformation, my chosen method for getting the new genes into the plant. Transgenic Tobacco plants have been successfully developed to produce useful chemicals such as an Ebola vaccine, collagen, and hemoglobin. I met a researcher who worked to develop a collagen producing transgenic tobacco plant which has already gone to market in Israel, and his advice has helped guide the project.

Is there a possibility of getting nicotine from the plants when trying to take the hormones? Once this initial prototype is developed, there are several things that need to be done to make it a viable method of producing hormones for human use. The metabolic pathways involved in producing the hormones will need to be tweaked and optimized to make it efficient. Cheap and effective methods for extraction will need to be developed to make sure they're pure and safe. And finally, cheap methods of dosing the hormones will need to be developed to ensure that they're being taken in a safe and responsible way. That being said, getting rid of the nicotine will be the simplest part, as there are strains with little to no nicotine, and nicotine production can be eliminated all together by grafting the plant onto a potato root system.

Are you going to patent the plants and sell them for profit? What's in it for you? I am an artist, and this is my artwork. I have to make money to survive, but the purpose of crowd sourcing funding rather than working for a company is to evade the need to patent and sell the product of my research for profit. My goal is to develop an accessible method of producing hormones that can be dedicated to the commons to prevent it ever being patented and monetized. This work is an experiment not only in synthetic biology and plant//human hybrids, but in speculating on what a communal pharmaceutical production system might look like. Is it possible to imagine a system in which all people have access to these tools, in which pharmaceuticals and useful chemicals can be grown cheaply. Could we have community hubs where pharmaceuticals could be grown and medical knowledge shared with those in the community? I'm not discounting the fact, that many medical decisions, diagnosis, and methods of administering treatment require years of intense study, and a deep understanding of the human body, molecular biology, etc. But I do think we can collectively imagine and work towards a system in which the cost of treatment is affordable, a system in which a trans-person could be in control of what happens to their body, and doesn't need to seek out black market hormones.

Are the hormones only for trans-people? Are you a trans person? I am not trans. I am a queer person who is interested in science, and interested in the ways science has historically, and still is trying to regulate sexuality and gender expression. We've come very far since the period from the early 50's to the mid 70's when queerness was illegal and proclaimed a psychological disorder. During this time, homosexuality, transvestism, and what was then called "psychopathia transexualis" were treated as psychoses... deviant behaviors, which could be cured or treated with a range of violent treatments from chemical castration, to electroshock and aversion therapy, to psycho-surgery. The regulation of sexuality and gender is less explicit in contemporary western society, but it is still present. My interest is in what would happen if hormones were deregulated and became accessible to queers, trans people, gender-hackers, or anyone really. That being said, sex hormones are therapeutically useful for a number of medical conditions, and a cheap method of producing them could have wider implications.

What if one year isn't enough time to produce a working prototype and the money is wasted? One year will not be enough time to produce a complete bioproduction system that makes testosterone or estrogen. The production of these hormones is a multistage process, involving multiple enzymatic transformations, meaning multiple genes will need to be integrated into the tobacco plant to code for the production of those enzymes. One year at Pelling Lab will get me at least to the first stage, involving only one enzyme and corresponding gene which performs several transformations to produce pregnenolone and 17 alpha-hydroxypregnenolone. I am simultaneously seeking grantfunding from several organizations to match the funds I raise through this crowd-funding campaign. I've learned from others who've successfully developed transgenic tobacco production systems with a similar scope that this project will take many years. Recreating an entire metabolic pathway in a plant is an incredibly complex task. This is a starting point that can help the project grow, and give me new skills to bring back to community labs.

Is the tobacco plant really the best way to create an opensource hormone production platform? The tobacco plant is promising, but there are other methods I'm evaluating simultaneuously, and hope to experiment with at Pelling Lab. I've identified several strains of bacteria that other researchers have successfully used to transform cholesterol, as well as other phytosterol substrates into testosterone with up to 85% efficiency. Currently bioreactors that would enable the cultivation of these organisms in a safe way to produce hormones are costly and difficult to maintain, making this a less than ideal method. The other concern is that with microorganisms, there is greater risk of contamination. With plants, the organism is visible, and it's immobile (unless flowering, then pollen becomes mobile). It will be important to make sure the plant is grown responsible so as to not contaminate wild species and have sex hormone plants all over the place! But there is a built in safety measure to help prevent this: these transgenic, pharmaceutical producing plants are coddled in the lab. They have no competition, and all the food, water, space, and light they could want. In the wild, because of the extra metabolic burden of producing chemicals for human use (not for their survival) they wouldn't have a chance competing with wild-type species.

You're making a half human half plant monster! How could this be safe!? GMO's get a bad rap because they are poorly regulated (if at all depending on where you are) and they are developed by many companies for selfish purposes. Companies like Monsanto who crush small farmers, sue innocent people because the wind blows pollen from field to field, and create terrifying sounding traits like terminator genes to maximize profit and control give genetic modification a bad name. The ways it has been used -- the most publicized uses of GMOs don't give credit to the incredible potential of the technology if used responsibly, and evaluated with a holistic, systems approach. I will not be doing anything in haste. It's very important to me that everything is done legally, and with ultimate respect for life.