Michael Swan Laufer (sometimes styled as Mixæl Laufer[1]) is the de facto leader of the open-source anarchist biohacking network, Four Thieves Vinegar Collective.[2][3][4] Laufer is notable for creating the EpiPencil, an open source alternative to the Epipen.[2][5]
Michael Laufer | |
|---|---|
| Other names | Mixæl Laufer |
| Known for | Biohacking, Open source medicine, De facto leader of Four Thieves Vinegar Collective |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | Graduate Center, CUNY |
Education
editLaufer has a Ph.D. in mathematics and physics from the CUNY Graduate Centre.[6]
Career
editLaufer is the director of mathematics at Silicon Valley's Menlo College,[3] and a part time teacher of mathematics at San Quentin State Prison, California.[2] Laufer is also a Senior Research Fellow at the UNESCO Crossings Institute.[7]
In 2008 Laufer went to El Salvador where he saw hospitals that had run out of birth control medicine, he founded the Four Thieves Vinegar Collective shortly afterwards.[3]
Laufer publicly shared videos in 2016 that illustrated how to manufacture generic version of the Epi-Pen epinephrine auto-injector from components readily available to the public.[8][9]
Laufer is working on a DIY controlled lab reactor that he calls the Apothecary MicroLab that will allow people to manufacture their own pharmaceuticals at home.[2] The first version is able to manufacture pyrimethamine, the same drug that in 2016 increased in price in USA from $13 to $750 in 2019.[8][10][11] Laufer's work is both about access to medicine and about the right to personal autonomy and information, seeking to undo a trend that has put healthcare decision-making in the control of financially motivated private actors.[3] Laufer believes that providing lifesaving medication to those in need justifies violation of intellectual property rights.[12] He wants to find simple ways to produce emergency contraceptives and common medications for HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C.[8]
In 2019 Laufer co-created a mesh-network sub-dermal implant that costs less than US$50, allowing humans to internally carry wireless routers.[13] Soon after, he had one implanted in himself.[13]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Mixæl S Laufer Twitter Account". Twitter. Archived from the original on 2022-01-31. Retrieved 2022-01-31.
- ^ a b c d Piller, Charles. "An Anarchist Is Teaching Patients to Make Their Own Medications". Scientific American. Archived from the original on 2021-12-03. Retrieved 2021-12-03.
- ^ a b c d Oberhaus, Daniel (July 26, 2018). "Meet the Anarchists Making Their Own Medicine". Vice. Archived from the original on January 7, 2022. Retrieved January 10, 2022.
- ^ "Was the EpiPen Hack Ethical?". KQED. 5 June 2017. Archived from the original on 2021-12-01. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
- ^ By (2016-09-22). "Should You Build Your Own EpiPen?". Popular Science. Archived from the original on 2021-12-03. Retrieved 2021-12-03.
- ^ "Menlo College Mathematician Michael Laufer Shoots to Fame with EpiPencil". Menlo College. 2016-10-04. Archived from the original on 2023-03-21. Retrieved 2023-03-21.
- ^ "People | University of Oregon-UNESCO Crossings Institute". unesco.uoregon.edu. Archived from the original on 2021-12-03. Retrieved 2021-12-03.
- ^ a b c "Hackers Offer a DIY Alternative to the $600 EpiPen". IEEE Spectrum. 2016-09-19. Archived from the original on 2021-12-01. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
- ^ Livni, Ephrat (27 September 2016). "Hackers created a $30 DIY version of the EpiPen". Quartz. Archived from the original on 2021-12-01. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
- ^ Larson, Selena (2016-09-24). "Outrageous EpiPen prices lead some people to make their own". CNNMoney. Archived from the original on 2021-12-01. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
- ^ Leonard, Kimberly (23 Sep 2016). "EpiPen Alternative? Meet the $30, DIY EpiPencil". US News. Archived from the original on 2021-12-01. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
- ^ Lehman, Peter G (Dec 2020). "Beyond chemistry: DIY medicine" (PDF). Chemistry in Australia. December 2020 - February 2021: 35. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-12-03. Retrieved 2021-12-03 – via Royal Australian Chemical Institute.
- ^ a b Oberhaus, Daniel. "This DIY Implant Lets You Stream Movies From Inside Your Leg". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2021-12-01.