Aaron Traywick, a biohacker who once injected himself with an untested herpes therapy on a crusade to expand access to medications, was found dead on Sunday morning in Washington, DC, police confirmed to BuzzFeed News.
Traywick, 28, was found in a spa in Northwest DC, according to police. Staff discovered him in a sensory deprivation flotation tank, according to his colleague Tristan Roberts.
His body was taken for an autopsy, and his cause of death was not immediately known. Their investigation is still ongoing, but the police say they don't suspect foul play.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/stephaniemlee/aaron-traywick-biohacker-died
Previously: "Biohacker" Injects DIY Herpes Vaccine in Front of Audience and Facebook Live (Aaron Traywick)
Biohacker Regrets Injecting Himself With Gene Therapy in Front of a Live Audience (Josiah Zayner reacting to Aaron Traywick)
Related Stories
"Biohackers" are growing bolder with their self-experimentation:
Aaron Traywick, 28, who leads biotech firm Ascendance Biomedical, used an experimental herpes treatment that did not go through the typical route of clinical trials to test its safety. Instead of being developed by research scientists in laboratories, it was created by a biohacker named Andreas Stuermer, who "holds a masters degree and is a bioentrepreneur and science lover," according to a conference bio. This is typical of the Ascendance approach. The company believes that FDA regulations for developing treatments are too slow and that having biohackers do the research and experiment on themselves can speed up the process to everyone's benefit. In the past, the company's plans have included trying to reverse menopause, a method that is now actually in clinical trials.
"We prefer to do everything before a live audience so you can hold us accountable in the days to come as we collect the data to prove whether or not this works," Traywick said before last night's spectacle. And, he added, "if we succeed with herpes in even the most minor ways, we can move forward immediately with cancer."
Despite specifying that he wanted "technical questions," someone in the audience asked whether Ascendance had received ethical permission for the experiment. Traywick said he didn't. Technically, everything has been officially labeled "not for human consumption," he said.
Also at The Scientist.
Related: Gene Therapy to Kill Cancer Moves a Step Closer to Market
Biohackers Disregard FDA Warning on DIY Gene Therapy
A Biohacker Regrets Publicly Injecting Himself With CRISPR
When Josiah Zayner watched a biotech CEO drop his pants at a biohacking conference and inject himself with an untested herpes treatment, he realized things had gone off the rails.
Zayner is no stranger to stunts in biohacking—loosely defined as experiments, often on the self, that take place outside of traditional lab spaces. You might say he invented their latest incarnation: He's sterilized his body to "transplant" his entire microbiome in front of a reporter. He's squabbled with the FDA about selling a kit to make glow-in-the-dark beer. He's extensively documented attempts to genetically engineer the color of his skin. And most notoriously, he injected his arm with DNA encoding for CRISPR that could theoretically enhance his muscles—in between taking swigs of Scotch at a live-streamed event during an October conference. (Experts say—and even Zayner himself in the live-stream conceded—it's unlikely to work.)
So when Zayner saw Ascendance Biomedical's CEO injecting himself on a live-stream earlier this month, you might say there was an uneasy flicker of recognition.
High School Student Injects The Book Of Genesis Into His Body
A student has injected himself with the Book of Genesis and the surah Ar-Ra'd (part of the Qur'an) because he "wondered whether it would be possible".
Adrien Locatelli, a high school student in Grenoble, France, decided to inject himself with several religious texts.
"Recent studies have reported that it is possible to convert any type of information into DNA for the purpose of storage," he wrote, publishing his initial results on the Open Science Framework.
"Since it is possible to convert digital information into DNA, I wondered whether it would be possible to convert a religious text into DNA and to inject it in a living being."
Seems like a good origin story for a religious superhero.
Related: Man Who Attempted DIY Gene Therapy Found Dead
Biohacker With Implanted Card Escapes Conviction
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 03 2018, @03:48AM (25 children)
Was this the guy who injected himself at a TEDX?
(Score: 4, Informative) by takyon on Thursday May 03 2018, @04:12AM (24 children)
Josiah Zayner did a similar stunt [buzzfeed.com] at SynBioBeta SF 2017 [synbiobeta.com], except with a muscular growth experiment instead of a herpes vaccine. His therapy (if it works) would inhibit expression of the MSTN gene and myostatin [wikipedia.org] to produce effects seen in dogs [soylentnews.org] and pigs [soylentnews.org].
Feb. 7: "Biohacker" Injects DIY Herpes Vaccine in Front of Audience and Facebook Live [soylentnews.org] (Aaron Traywick)
Feb. 23: Biohacker Regrets Injecting Himself With Gene Therapy in Front of a Live Audience [soylentnews.org] (Josiah Zayner reacting to Aaron Traywick)
April 29: (this story) Traywick DEAD.
Keep in mind we don't know what killed Traywick, but if he was found in a sensory deprivation flotation tank, maybe it was related to the tank or he was on some recreational drugs in there.
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(Score: 3, Insightful) by maxwell demon on Thursday May 03 2018, @05:11AM (23 children)
Do you have any indication that he took drugs? If not, why do you bring them in?
The tank being related with his death is a reasonable assumption, as he was found dead there. Unless you give evidence, the speculation about drug involvement is vastly less justified than the speculation about the death being related to the gene self therapy. For the latter we at least have evidence that it happened.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by takyon on Thursday May 03 2018, @05:31AM (14 children)
The sensory deprivation tank + hallucinogenic drug combo is welllllll known. Even the inventor/developer of the tank [wikipedia.org] did it:
Traywick was reportedly found "face down" in the tank [news2share.com]. So either he committed suicide, had some kind of a panic attack, or was on some kind of drugs that made him disoriented or panic. Unless you can find of some trend of sober people dying in the tank, I'm leaning heavily toward recreational drugs being a contributing factor, although I noted that I want to see the toxicology report. The injection from 3 months earlier is unlikely to have contributed; just injecting yourself with CRISPR+stuff doesn't mean you are going to be totally transformed.
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(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Thursday May 03 2018, @05:54AM (5 children)
I didn't claim that a connection with the gene self therapy is likely. I just said that the evidence for drug involvement is even less than the evidence of a causal relation to the gene self therapy.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by takyon on Thursday May 03 2018, @06:05AM
You've got it reversed. If there was no mention of the tank, I wouldn't have brought up the involvement of recreational drugs, and would be pondering about how untested gene therapy could have fucked this man up instead.
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(Score: 5, Informative) by takyon on Thursday May 03 2018, @06:30AM (3 children)
I could have saved us some time if I had seen this earlier:
https://www.washingtonian.com/2018/05/02/aaron-traywick-dc-spa-says-police-found-drug-paraphernalia/ [washingtonian.com]
So now we have a spa employee claiming that the police found drug paraphernalia. Is this the tipping point for you?
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 03 2018, @09:52AM (1 child)
A spa PR agent says it wasn't their fault, that's all. And what paraphernalia? That could be anything. And how does it take them 2 months to figure out what it was?
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday May 03 2018, @01:27PM
And it's entirely believable.
If a detective asked about it, it may have had something to do with the man's death. Moreso than a pack of chewing gum or his wallet.
Same reason it takes years to get a "rape kit" tested. Backlogs and delays.
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(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Thursday May 03 2018, @05:32PM
What exactly are those "drug paraphernalia"? I can think of some that would also be used in administering, say, herpes gene therapy.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by jimtheowl on Thursday May 03 2018, @05:57AM (7 children)
After all, the inventor reportedly used the tank for 10 years before trying it with LSD.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday May 03 2018, @06:02AM (6 children)
LSD was A BIT MORE POPULAR AND AVAILABLE in 1964 than 1954.
Like, come on.
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(Score: 2) by jimtheowl on Thursday May 03 2018, @06:59AM (5 children)
That was also the least relevant point.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday May 03 2018, @07:30AM (4 children)
I didn't offer "resisting" as a reason for the 10 year gap. I implied that the idea to take LSD in the tank didn't occur to him or he couldn't get a hold of LSD until '64. Orders of magnitude more people were interacting with the drug by the end of those 10 years.
There is no fallacy in the thread. I wouldn't need to mention drugs if he hadn't DIED in the tank. The association I've made is not simply between drugs and the tank, but drugs and dying in the tank. Of which there are known cases. And as it turns out, drug paraphernalia was reportedly found in his belongings at the spa where he died:
https://www.washingtonian.com/2018/05/02/aaron-traywick-dc-spa-says-police-found-drug-paraphernalia/ [washingtonian.com]
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(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday May 03 2018, @04:36PM (2 children)
Ok, we get it. You believe that he died from doing drugs in his isolation tank. You have good reasons to believe that. We . get . it .
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by takyon on Thursday May 03 2018, @04:55PM (1 child)
I wouldn't need to explain it over and over if there wasn't so much complete ignorance displayed by other users in the thread. And I blame out-of-touch greybeards.
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(Score: 3, Insightful) by bob_super on Thursday May 03 2018, @05:10PM
Having made your point quite convincingly, I'd like to invite you not to dwell on those who have their own reasons to doubt your hypothesis.
You might be right,
but don't sound obsessive,
for this is just schadenfreude news,
and the internet doesn't actually give a flying fuck.
(Score: 2) by jimtheowl on Thursday May 03 2018, @05:04PM
You make a fair point there, but keep in mind that the cited known cases are 1) injection with a horse tranquilizer and 2) sedating drugs + ... + alcohol.
I'm going to at least suggest that things likely went down differently in this case.
(Score: -1) by fakefuck39 on Thursday May 03 2018, @05:52AM (2 children)
you're absolutely right. did you know you can use that smart logic of yours with the cops when you crash into a pole on an empty road and they give you a breathalyzer? really fight for it too when they ignore your superior logic.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Thursday May 03 2018, @06:05AM (1 child)
Completely different situation. The cops are not claiming drunkenness, they are testing for drunkenness (that's what the breathalyzer is for). The analogy to the situation you describe in this case is those doing the autopsy looking for drugs. Which they will certainly do; it would be a failure for them not to.
If after an accident like the one you described, someone would claim publicly the driver was clearly drunken, without sufficient evidence, I'd also object to that. Because, you know, there are many reasons a car can end up crashing into a pole on an empty road that are not at all related to alcohol.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: -1) by fakefuck39 on Saturday May 05 2018, @11:42AM
OP: "maybe he was on some drugs"
-now lets change one word-
Me: "maybe he had some alcohol"
You: nuh-huh, the cops making you take a breathalyzer aren't saying "maybe he had some alcohol"
What are you a fucking retard or something? Nah, I got it. Autism, complete loser, likes to be technically correct, ugly as fuck - socially inept at basic normal understanding. why don't you write me some code to recursively prove you're right.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by takyon on Thursday May 03 2018, @05:58AM (4 children)
I'll reiterate that none of my comments on this article claim that "he certainly died because of recreational drugs". But what do we know about the guy?
1. He engaged in risky behaviors.
2. He SEEMED to believe in individual sovereignty - the right to put what he pleases in his body. I would have to find a quote confirming his views, but using an untested vaccine is much more of an eyebrow-raiser than using recreational drugs these days.
3. He self-experimented using his own body.
4. He was found dead in an isolation tank, which many people have used in combination with drugs.
The isolation tank is designed to mimic a certain mindset without the need for drugs, so perhaps he did die sober, a rare fatality caused by the tank. But the gene therapy seems like an unlikely candidate for causing his death. I wonder if the autopsy will even be able to determine anything about his use of the gene therapy, for example if he had reupped it the day prior (although research notes could be used to deduce that instead). What the gene therapy incident does tell us is that he is the type of person who would use recreational drugs if their use conformed to his views and desires.
If we want to take a trip into crazy town, we could speculate about who would want to assassinate him (conveniently pinning it on the scary tank he may have regularly used).
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(Score: 5, Funny) by aristarchus on Thursday May 03 2018, @06:09AM (3 children)
One thing for sure: his herpes is cured. Vaccine worked?
(Score: 5, Funny) by takyon on Thursday May 03 2018, @06:16AM (2 children)
Peter Thiel will offer two gene therapies. The expensive one cures herpes. The cheap one cures herpes carriers.
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(Score: 4, Funny) by aristarchus on Thursday May 03 2018, @06:27AM (1 child)
Let me get this straight, so to speak, then: There is herd immunity, and then there is Peter Thiel immunity, and these are not even tangentially related?
(Score: 3, Funny) by takyon on Thursday May 03 2018, @06:33AM
Have you seen the herd, the revolting masses? What a drag, dude! It's the duty of the ultra-rich to kill them with kindness.
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(Score: 2, Troll) by realDonaldTrump on Thursday May 03 2018, @04:14AM (2 children)
I don't know why he died. I don't think anybody knows. But maybe it was the vaccine. A vaccine for herpes, so important. We need that one so much. I’ve been so lucky in terms of that whole world. It is a dangerous world out there. It’s like Vietnam, sort of. It is my personal Vietnam. I feel like a great and very brave soldier! You have to have a roving doctor, his office has to be in your briefcase. He has to be your best friend. He has to go with you at all times. He has to do on-site tests. The right vaccine would be so great. But it has to be right. I have friends that religiously get the flu shot and then they get the flu. You know, that helps my thinking. I’ve seen a lot of reports that the last flu shot is virtually totally ineffective.
Rational Vaccines -- Prof. Halford (RIP!!) -- I think they're on to something. And Peter Thiel thinks they're on to something. Let's go with that one.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by takyon on Thursday May 03 2018, @04:45AM (1 child)
I'm gonna predict it had squat to do with the gene therapy (which probably didn't have an effect), and everything to do with tripping on ketamine, MDMA, or something similar while inside of a dark, water-filled tank without a trip sitter.
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(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 03 2018, @09:50AM
Au contraire! His bio was hacked!
I wonder if he was hooked up to the internet of (dead) things if he could be used as a zombie? Asking for a friend.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 03 2018, @04:14AM (1 child)
n/t
(Score: 2) by Osamabobama on Thursday May 03 2018, @10:53PM
I'm pretty sure evolution is driven by those who survive.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 03 2018, @04:31AM (1 child)
So if you inject yourself with something foul, that isn't foul play. But if someone offs you because it's their job, that is?
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday May 03 2018, @04:41AM
Hmm... call it foul self-play.
The setting of the sensory deprivation tank at least expands the possibilities of what could have killed this guy:
https://www.getreading.co.uk/news/local-news/floatation-tank-horror-4250837 [getreading.co.uk]
https://www.reddit.com/r/Drugs/comments/35u6ys/commentary_drugs_in_a_sensory_deprivation_tank/ [reddit.com]
http://www.cracked.com/personal-experiences-2482-i-work-at-spa-where-you-can-take-drugs-trip-balls-pee.html [cracked.com]
This could be the most anticipated autopsy toxicology report of the year (at least for me).
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(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday May 03 2018, @05:14AM (2 children)
I obviously was the demogorgon who killed him from the upside-down.
(Score: 5, Funny) by arslan on Thursday May 03 2018, @05:24AM (1 child)
He's not dead, he has merely transferred his consciousness into the digital realm.. what they found in the tank was just an expired primitive husk.
(Score: 3, Funny) by takyon on Thursday May 03 2018, @05:33AM
The ultimate biohack.
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(Score: 3, Touché) by mobydisk on Thursday May 03 2018, @03:55PM (5 children)
The guy was a living experiment. If he died in some unrelated way - drug use, tank malfunction, etc - then we lost the data that he risked his life to create. That would be a shame. The shame would be compounded if his death was self-induced. Why make yourself a living experiment, then kill yourself before publishing the result?
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday May 03 2018, @05:02PM
The bigger waste would be if this incident gets used to dissuade potential biohackers, or even worse, if it encourages the passage of a draconian law attempting to regulate or criminalize DIY biology.
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(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday May 03 2018, @05:13PM (1 child)
> Why make yourself a living experiment, then kill yourself before publishing the result?
I see a result being published. The exact protocol of the experiment may require further clarification.
I seem to be in the control group.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 03 2018, @07:17PM
Maybe not: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091102121644.htm [sciencedaily.com]
(Score: 2) by Osamabobama on Thursday May 03 2018, @10:55PM
In unrelated news, the DC medical examiner's office has been the source of a lot of gene therapy patents.
Well, not yet, but keep a lookout for it...
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 04 2018, @06:22AM
What he was doing was already a waste. He did an experiment with a sample size of one. Good luck getting any reproducible data out of so small a sample.