# Biohackers
**Biohackers** are people who apply experimental biology, self-measurement, and technology to their own bodies and health outside conventional clinical or institutional settings, a practice known as biohacking. The term covers a wide range of activity, from do-it-yourself (DIY) biology in community laboratories to longevity regimens followed by wealthy technology entrepreneurs, and it also names a German Netflix thriller series about genetic engineering at a university.
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Core definition | The use of experimental biological science to improve one's own health on a DIY basis, as stated in the charter of the r/Biohackers online community[1](https://subriff.com/subreddit/Biohackers) |
| Terminology | Some writers use "biohackers" for DIY biology generally, while others reserve it for people who physically modify their bodies for self-improvement; the terms overlap with "neurohackers" and "lifehackers"[2](https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00224/pdf) |
| Prominent example | Entrepreneur Bryan Johnson began rapamycin injections in 2019 to extend his life and discontinued them in September 2024, citing skin infections, high glucose, blood lipid abnormalities, and a heightened resting heart rate[3](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/silicon-valleys-longevity-biohackers-are-engaged-in-a-dangerous-experiment/) |
| Scientific status | No medical intervention has been proven to extend human life by targeting aging itself, according to Andrew Steele, an independent longevity researcher in Berlin and author of *Ageless* (2022)[3](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/silicon-valleys-longevity-biohackers-are-engaged-in-a-dangerous-experiment/) |
| Community spaces | DIY biology groups and spaces include BioCurious (San Jose, CA), BioHackspace (London), and Genspace (NYC)[1](https://subriff.com/subreddit/Biohackers) |
| Netflix series | *Biohackers*, a six-part German Netflix original created by Christian Ditter, premiered on 20 August 2020 and ran for two seasons (12 episodes) before cancellation[4](https://about.netflix.com/de/news/german-netflix-original-series-with-new-launch-date-biohackers-launches-on-august-20th-exclusively-on-netflix) • [5](https://www.epguides.com/Biohackers/) |
## What biohackers do
The label gathers several distinct practices. A working model in the journal *Medical Humanities* breaks biohacking into four strands so that the different guises of the movement can be compared, and it notes that prominent influencers such as [Tim Ferriss](https://www.edgepedia.org/tim-ferriss) and [Dave Asprey](https://www.edgepedia.org/dave-asprey) combine scientific and technological elements with low-tech activities like fasting, meditation, and exercise regimes[6](https://mh.bmj.com/content/52/1/105). Biohackers focused on health optimization draw the boundary of the system they want to hack at their own body and its performance[6](https://mh.bmj.com/content/52/1/105).
At the community end of the spectrum, biohackers practice DIY biology, sourcing inexpensive versions of laboratory tools for home or hackerspace use. The r/Biohackers community, which describes itself as being for biohacking in the DIY-biology sense, points members toward community laboratories such as BioCurious in San Jose, BioHackspace in London, and Genspace in New York, and toward open-source tools like OpenPCR[1](https://subriff.com/subreddit/Biohackers).
**Longevity biohacking.** At the other end sit wealthy technology entrepreneurs who publicize elaborate self-experimentation. Bryan Johnson, who sold his mobile-payment business Braintree to PayPal in 2013 for US$800 million, tested rapamycin, an immunosuppressant normally used to prevent organ rejection after transplants, at doses of 5, 6, and 10 mg on weekly, biweekly, and other schedules before abandoning it in September 2024[3](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/silicon-valleys-longevity-biohackers-are-engaged-in-a-dangerous-experiment/). His self-published [Blueprint](https://www.edgepedia.org/blueprint) protocol has been adapted over time, and other figures in the scene have promoted methylene blue, a former textile dye with limited approved medical use, and nicotine pouches as focus enhancers despite well-documented addiction concerns[3](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/silicon-valleys-longevity-biohackers-are-engaged-in-a-dangerous-experiment/).
Researchers who study aging describe the central problem as a gap between enthusiasm and evidence. Nir Barzilai, president of the Academy of Geroscience and a genetics researcher at [Albert Einstein College of Medicine](https://www.edgepedia.org/albert-einstein-college-of-medicine), says the supplements and drugs involved are based on biology but not on clinical evidence[3](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/silicon-valleys-longevity-biohackers-are-engaged-in-a-dangerous-experiment/). [Matt Kaeberlein](https://www.edgepedia.org/matt-kaeberlein), a biogerontologist who founded the Healthy Aging and Longevity Research Institute at the University of Washington, calls the situation a signal-to-noise problem, and both he and Steele note that some protocols under discussion could eventually matter for lifespan and healthspan, the years lived free of chronic disease and disability, but the evidence is not there yet[3](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/silicon-valleys-longevity-biohackers-are-engaged-in-a-dangerous-experiment/). Influencers act as translators of early-stage science, turning preliminary findings into supplement and therapy stacks long before regulatory approval, a trickle-down effect driven by their platforms, as Margje Camps, a University of Utrecht researcher of health influencers, puts it[3](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/silicon-valleys-longevity-biohackers-are-engaged-in-a-dangerous-experiment/).
## Limits of self-measurement
A common biohacking premise is that meticulous measurement enables control. Alex Harding, an internal medicine physician at [Massachusetts General Hospital](https://www.edgepedia.org/massachusetts-general-hospital), argues against the analogy of programming the body like a computer: in a recent study, participants wore continuous glucose monitors and ate identical meals a week apart in a highly controlled hospital environment, and the glucose readings from the identical meals were no more similar than readings from entirely different meals[7](https://www.statnews.com/2025/05/27/biohackers-longevity-continuous-glucose-monitoring-programming-body/). Randomness is also inherent to biology, from the shuffling of parental chromosomes to the random errors introduced in DNA by the molecular machines that copy it before cells divide[7](https://www.statnews.com/2025/05/27/biohackers-longevity-continuous-glucose-monitoring-programming-body/).
The term itself remains contested. A 2025 feature in *The Independent* calls biohacking divisive and notes practices that strike many observers as fringe, such as spending £2 million a year on a diet or injecting oneself with a child's blood, referencing Bryan Johnson and the Netflix documentary *Don't Die*[8](https://www.the-independent.com/health-and-fitness/what-is-biohacking-b2611675.html).
## The Netflix series
*Biohackers* is a German-language science thriller series created, directed, and written by Christian Ditter, whose earlier credits include *[How to Be Single](https://www.edgepedia.org/how-to-be-single)* and *[Love, Rosie](https://www.edgepedia.org/love-rosie-film)*[4](https://about.netflix.com/de/news/german-netflix-original-series-with-new-launch-date-biohackers-launches-on-august-20th-exclusively-on-netflix). The story follows Mia Akerlund, played by Luna Wedler, a first-semester medical student at the [University of Freiburg](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-freiburg) who enrolls on a secret mission: she suspects that junior professor Tanja Lorenz, played by Jessica Schwarz, and her genetic experiments are behind the death of Mia's twin brother[9](https://www.filmportal.de/film/biohackers-staffel-1_450d9f13470f43fe8733c9bb3b0afdd5). The cast also includes Adrian Julius Tillmann as Jasper, Thomas Prenn as Niklas, and Caro Cult as Lotta[5](https://www.epguides.com/Biohackers/).
The six-part first season was produced by Claussen+Putz Filmproduktion, filmed in Freiburg and Munich between 6 May and 10 September 2019, and funded by the German Motion Picture Fund and FilmFernsehFonds Bayern[9](https://www.filmportal.de/film/biohackers-staffel-1_450d9f13470f43fe8733c9bb3b0afdd5). Netflix originally planned an April 2020 release but postponed it to 20 August 2020 because some scenes, including an outbreak on a train, felt disturbing at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic; director Christian Ditter said the delay was meant to help viewers distinguish fact from fiction[10](https://amp.dw.com/en/biohackers-play-god-in-german-netflix-series/a-54630705).
Season 1 aired on 20 August 2020 and season 2 on 9 July 2021, six episodes each, for 12 episodes in total; the series is listed as canceled/ended[5](https://www.epguides.com/Biohackers/) • [11](https://www.tvshowtracker.eu/en/show/biohackers-100074/renewal-status). In season 2 the protagonist struggles with memory loss after a dubious experiment, and the science theme recedes into the background of a conspiracy plot, according to the Filmdienst review[12](https://www.filmdienst.de/film/details/615396/biohackers).
**Science engagement.** The series was used for public science communication: the German Science Year 2020/21 on bioeconomy, funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, ran "Science Watch Parties" around the show, discussing which of its visions, such as glowing mice, meat-flavored mushrooms, and gene-edited mosquitoes carrying lethal viruses, are realistic and which are invented[13](https://www.wissenschaftsjahr.de/2020-21/aktuelles/august-2021/netflix-serie-biohackers-was-ist-fakt-was-fiktion.html).
## References
1. [r/Biohackers: Subscriber Stats & Community Description, Subriff](https://subriff.com/subreddit/Biohackers)
2. [The Social Context of "Do-It-Yourself" Brain Stimulation: Neurohackers, Biohackers, and Lifehackers, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience](https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00224/pdf)
3. [Silicon Valley's longevity biohackers are engaged in a dangerous experiment, Scientific American / Nature (20 June 2026)](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/silicon-valleys-longevity-biohackers-are-engaged-in-a-dangerous-experiment/)
4. [Deutsche Netflix Original Serie: Biohackers startet am 20. August weltweit exklusiv auf Netflix, About Netflix (22 July 2020)](https://about.netflix.com/de/news/german-netflix-original-series-with-new-launch-date-biohackers-launches-on-august-20th-exclusively-on-netflix)
5. [Biohackers, a Titles & Air Dates Guide, epguides.com](https://www.epguides.com/Biohackers/)
6. [What are 'biohackers' hacking? Identifying motivations and meaning-making frameworks, Medical Humanities (BMJ)](https://mh.bmj.com/content/52/1/105)
7. [Biohackers think you can program the body like a computer. They're wrong, STAT News (27 May 2025)](https://www.statnews.com/2025/05/27/biohackers-longevity-continuous-glucose-monitoring-programming-body/)
8. [What is biohacking – and can you actually hack your health?, The Independent (28 March 2025)](https://www.the-independent.com/health-and-fitness/what-is-biohacking-b2611675.html)
9. [Biohackers [Staffel 1], filmportal.de](https://www.filmportal.de/film/biohackers-staffel-1_450d9f13470f43fe8733c9bb3b0afdd5)
10. [New German Netflix series: 'Biohackers', Deutsche Welle (20 August 2020)](https://amp.dw.com/en/biohackers-play-god-in-german-netflix-series/a-54630705)
11. [Is Biohackers renewed, ended, or cancelled?, TV Show Tracker](https://www.tvshowtracker.eu/en/show/biohackers-100074/renewal-status)
12. [Biohackers, Filmdienst](https://www.filmdienst.de/film/details/615396/biohackers)
13. [Netflix-Serie „Biohackers": Was ist Fakt, was Fiktion?, Wissenschaftsjahr 2020/21 (4 August 2021)](https://www.wissenschaftsjahr.de/2020-21/aktuelles/august-2021/netflix-serie-biohackers-was-ist-fakt-was-fiktion.html)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Unscripted, reality, and web-native series › Web-native and streaming-original series › Genre web series: horror, thriller, science fiction, and mystery*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license