Am I still lactose tolerant? - Lactose Gene Therapy Update
Why Hacker News recommends it
Pointed to as a striking example of DIY biology and self-experimentation with gene therapy.
What it is
The Thought Emporium's update on the home-brewed gene therapy he took to cure his lactose intolerance. It reports how the effect held up over two years and what future versions might look like.
Recommended by 3 HN commenters across 3 different months, 2020 to 2026.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec stuntkite · 2021-06 · on “CRISPR gene-editing breakthrough opens door to treating broad array of diseases”
His YouTube channel The Thought Emporium, is amazing. He just moved into a new lab and I really appreciate what he’s working on and how he communicates it. The robot painting fluorescent proteins is neat and recently he dropped a video demonstrating his adventures making synthetic opal. Apparently the edit made him totally lactose tolerant for over a year and now he has very mild lactose intolerance. He says he hasn’t redosed because he wants to improve the plasmid (I think that’s the right term, BUGFIX probably isn’t right) before he takes another run at it. Here’s his update video from last year on that endeavor. [this video]
Recommends freezing_coffee · 2020-07 · on “The Thought Emporium”
Have been a patron for some time, and discovered his channel with his lactose gene therapy video - to which he recently posted an update: [this video] . Great addition to scientific youtube.
Recommends jcims · 2020-12 · on “Girlfriend warned Nashville police Anthony Warner was building bomb a year ago”
With a germ you can kill a few million people - [LINK] [LINK] [LINK] [LINK] If you want to see someone do cool stuff with the above: [this video] [LINK]
Cites haxiomic · 2020-07 · on “Scientists make precise edits to mitochondrial DNA for first time”
We have this today to an extent, here’s someone who tested a DIY gene editing cure for lactose intolerance on themselves [this video] (Spoiler: it worked, very well in fact!)
Cites haxiomic · 2023-03 · on “”
Here’s someone who orders parts from the internet to design a custom virus that genetically modifies his own cells to cure his lactose intolerance [this video] Pretty cool for sure and a great use of the technology. The reason more of us don’t do this is because we lack the knowledge of biology to understand what we’re doing That will soon change.
Cites julius · 2024-06 · on “Major cause of inflammatory bowel disease discovered”
Reminds me of the Youtube Guy who homebrewed a gene-therapy to treat his Lactose Intolerance, successfully [this video]
Cites ben_w · 2024-07 · on “One-dose nasal spray clears toxic Alzheimer's proteins to improve memory”
In general, if you want to bio-hack your own body, you're allowed, nobody will stop you. e.g. [this video] (even going past the first treatment he did on himself, to the updated version that's not yet human-rated, it's the creator going "please don't" rather than anything enforced). The health and safety concerns about stuff like this are mostly about other people getting hurt.
Cites dlcarrier · 2025-12 · on “Scientists Edited Genes Inside a Living Person for First Time, Saved His Life”
There was a guy on YouTube who genetically engineered himself to gain lactose tolerance. ( [LINK] ) It lasted for around a year and a half ( [this video] ) before the effect mostly wore off. He took it orally, so it only affected his intestinal lining, and I presume it didn't effect enough stem cells to get a permanent effect, but it would still be usable as something taken annually, which is still far less often than any medication.