ADAM Technology

* See also ADAM
* See also EVE
* See also Plasmids
* See also ADAM_Medical_Uses
* See also Sea Slugs (the Source)
* See also Example Of Plasmid Progression
* See also ADAM_Addled
* See also Technologies
* See also Bio-Electronics
* See also Quick Change Plasmids/Tonics
* See also Sci-Fi Plasmids <- Now With 'Less Fantasy'
* See also Vigors ( the Infinite copycat stuff )
* See also Test_Subjects
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How ADAM Works :
Plausible explanation : DNA ( or better the required RNA ) is put into your body to remake tissue - which carries out the changes to create the 'Super-Power'. The basic ADAM component reverts Body Tissue into stem-cells ( into unformed tissue ), which then has the Plasmid (RNA genetic mods) applied, which rebuilds the reverted tissue with that NEW genetic pattern and resulting tissue structure. ( For the sake of plausibility in the MMORPG, those changes would ONLY be something Physiologically possible ). 
But those changes then are unstable and start to breakdown with time - Like an immunity response in your body - the rejection/attacking of the genetically different tissue, which eventually is disrupted/deteriorates and fails to function. More ADAM and Plasmids are then required to be applied to again Rebuild the required tissue changes - to Restore the abilities. 
The body's immunity increases, so subsequently even more ADAM is required to built the needed modification. Meanwhile, the user increasingly has this genetic garbage floating around in their body, disrupting other tissue/organs and causing tumors/lesions. Mental disruptions are possible with the resulting brain tumors and biochemical imbalances.
The addiction dependency may be a psychological effect - besides the physiological one. Who knows, Fontaine may have added something like Heroin to his products too to help that along- He was after all a Drug Pusher, who wanted to continue selling his product, and wasn't much caring what it did to people ( except maybe to serve to disrupt Rapture for his intended power grab ).
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ADAM Ethics and Development Difficulties :
Ethically challenged  Fontaine/Suchong/Tenenbaum  - How many failures were there in the development of these genetic research/processes/technologies/products ?   The Novel hinted at that issue ( describing horrendous scenes of the early experimentation with even Fontaine being horrified by the results on human test subjects ).
How many 'Baby' Jack ( clones or 'other' experimental 'subjects' ) did it take to get it right ?  You probably won't find a lab like in "Alien 3", as Fontaine would destroy the evidence to cover up his plot --- Unless he is as wholly incompetent as portrayed in BaSx.
The ADAM scientists/technicians might have got better at repairing/recovering the test subjects (maybe only to save on costs), but experiments likely would be fatal or worse for many.  Glossed over in the story, with Tenenbaum's angst at seeing the warped humanity in Little Sisters, but no mention of how many must have died to create them and their precursor ADAM-generators in the first place ( or how many OTHER humans her research consumed ).
Some evidence of the early ADAM research may yet be found in Rapture's ruins.
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We Don't even want to think about OTHER ways that Tenenbaum/Suchong tried to implant Sea Slugs.
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A Great Deal of Testing :
Animal Test Subjects would be used as far as they worked out before Human Testing was required.
Human Test Subjects are STILL a major expense (AND RISK), and 'recycling' them was cost-effective
Possible Use of Healing Tonics in Fontaine's experimentation - to 'stretch' the (still)expensive Test Subjects.
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'"Transposon" - Chunks of DNA Acquired (over time) from Other Organisms
https://www.scholarlygamers.com/?s=bioshock
https://www.scholarlygamers.com/video/2018/07/19/proof-of-console-episode-6-Plasmids/
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Knowledge A Valuable Import :
"DNA : In 1953, two scientists, James Watson and Francis Crick, were trying to put together a model of DNA. They analyzed and took a look at Franklin and Wilkin's X-ray Crystalography data and made their model."
So with the general unlikeliness for this advancement being "home grown" in Rapture, its more likely new Scientific Information was being imported INTO Rapture ( Ryan probably would be allowing some well-vetted/controlled/authorized things via his Surface Organization AFTER the 1952 general cutoff of Surface contact. )
Such knowledge would assist greatly in advancing the medical and genetic research of Suchong, Tenenbaum and others ( corresponding to Tenenbaum's Sea Slug discovery --- Maybe NOT a coincidence as per the game writers date setting of important Rapture events ).
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Robustness :
Natural living things have additional redundancy and stabilizing (and reproduction) mechanisms built into them, which are beyond their basic functioning. It is how they continue to exist as self-contained units. The ADAM modification do NOT have to have such things, and hence their quick deterioration and side effects. ( When you are selling the Stuff, its not a 'bug', its a 'feature' ... ) With the 'war', Fontaine had little desire to provide anything more complex to his 'canon-fodder' than the basic Plasmid functionality ( When he may/might have provided better to Customers previously ). 
Ryan, not wanting MORE crazy maimed citizens, would have continued with built in measure to prevent user deterioration, and even improved on Fontaine's old and any new ADAM formulas.
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ADAM Problemz (How Can It Work) :
First how often do cells replicate/change in an adult ( ie - in the Brain almost not at all ) ? The change process thus takes time ( not 'shooter game instant' ). 
Spreading of the Plasmid's DNA/RNA as a generalized injection may only be done for certain effects ( depend on how large the desired changes throughout the body were ). 
I'm not sure if RNA is effectively transmitted by that process as it would dilutes ( as it doesn't self-replicate as DNA does on cell splits - THUS explaining the transitory nature of 'doses' ).
THUS I would have expected for many of the early Plasmids/Tonics ( like the BIC Lighter of the Waiter in BaS1 ), the Plasmid application might only be made local in the body ( systemic full-body genetic change to grow a lighter in the thumb/finger is horribly more complex to make work than some topical local application to form/force an ad hoc organ at the desired body location ).
That doesn't stop stray bits of DNA/RNA ( or entire cells like a spreading Cancer ), with a discordant tissue effect, eventually permeating the whole body. That eventually leading to disruption of normal functions ( And with a larger ADAM repeated applications, the more potential for THAT there would be ). 
Tissue rejection effects by immune system - we haven't even delved into THAT yet ( probably would clean up much of the non-original tissue, and perhaps could be the reason you would constantly have to keep boosting the original doses with more of the specific ADAM Plasmid ).
Sorry Kenny&Co, ADAM is NOT Human Stem Cells, which would NEED to be stuff specific to a non-sea slug species and to the individual it is used by ( Tenenbaum really might barely know what she was talking about ... and generalizes what she says ). 
ADAM is supposed to CAUSE the formation of Stem-Cells of existing body-tissues ( allowing for tissue mods via some added genetic pattern - hence Suchong calling it "The Canvas" ). 
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Promoters :
Definition : In a part of the 'genome' known as the 'Promoter Region' that determines whether or not a certain 'gene' gets turned on. Gene sequences called "i-motifs""i-motif" - A Cytosine rich DNA sequences which can fold into a tight structure. These structures typically appear in promoter regions on DNA, and are thought to help with gene regulation. can be used as a type of switch that can regulate gene expression. 
Control is needed upon sequences of tissue formation and the location it happens.
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NEW TISSUE :
This PHYSIOLOGICAL MECHANISM would be Regression of existing body tissue into "Stem Cells". It would include a 2-phased effect - that regressed tissue THEN splitting the Stem-Cells into additional new cells. The body must retain its tissue used for normal operation, and have added new tissue for whatever function the Plasmid causes. Growth of the new tissue then requires cell growth powered by normal body metabolism.
There would be issues with THAT regression and splitting process 'getting out of hand' ( another reason to have local (controlled) application ). 
Local introduction of ADAM concentrates its effect - an advantage for Plasmids which make localized changes ( ie - Fireballs issued from the hand, versus the foot or other body part ... ).
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Multiple Plasmids Means ... More Crazy ??? :
Multiple Plasmids/Tonics might also conflict/compete ( internally within the user ) and maybe the consumer grades had features to minimize that ( the 'can only have one Plasmid active' at once ).  ... Besides earlier Plasmids not necessarily being 'combat' drastic/strong - the 'BIC' lighter in BaS vs full Incinerate! and its upgrades. 
But as the 'civil war' chaos increased, and Plasmid production got hectic, the production might have gotten more sloppy/streamlined  ( or they get unstable if they 'age' ), and Atlas being desperate may have been using a stash of out-of-date ADAM for his minions. The extra stability features might be left out -- IF it limited production efficiency or required using more ADAM.
Jack's growth seems to be the product of some process likely using alot of ADAM and other things ( who knows what all else the experimental science in Rapture came up with ).
Suchong : Plasmids_are_the_Paint     
ADAM sounds like it stimulates Stem Cells in the body ( or reverts cells back to stem cells ).  It shouldn't be Stem Cells itself - as those are unformed cells, but with the host body's own original DNA ( and that is certainly not something to be found in a Sea Slug - even if it (ick) ate human waste ).
Tonics/Plasmids are made when additional DNA/RNA is added to modify the bodies DNA cellular pattern and the ADAM creates the stem cells, which the DNA/RNA Reforms into the needed physical changes/additions.
Baby Jack possibly didn't likely have any additional DNA/RNA added, but was accelerated with his own DNA ( Thus no conflicting genetic material to cause the various sideeffects when the body reverts from added genetic patterns back to the original DNA ). Fontaine could have expended ALOT of ADAM on his project.
The acceleration may be a separate effect - WE get body tissue/structural changes really fast as part of the Tonics/Plasmids/Healing-Kits, so that component is probably in the ADAM stuff we use ourselves in the game also.  (Steinman's process sounds like local quick healing after he sliced/dice-d faces, and not some more complex DNA changes.  There probably were a whole lot of other medical therapy processes of that type - including a Cancer Cure).
SO Tenenbaum's ADAM Sickness Cure might be something to get all that garbage DNA/RNA out of a body, and then apply ALOT of ADAM to repair all the destruction/disruptions BACK to the persons original DNA ( and with some acceleration component to minimize the time that half-finished changes exist in the body ).
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Some People Really DON'T Like Needles :
We have been shown Needles used to inject Plasmids, and some we find on Bottles laying around (( BTW, Wouldn't addicted Splicers have searched every inch of Rapture for any 'free' Plasmids and Tonics by the time we get there ??? ))
But many people don't like needles, even moreso used for Self-Applied injections, and worse them being needles the size of those used for knitting, especially ( Yes, I know it is a graphics caricature ... ). Later Splicers wouldn't be so finicky.
So later consumer grade ADAM products would possibly come in Oral form to fully reach its market, or might we assume that a large number of people in Rapture never used ANY ADAM products, if they didn't have to ( when they might have had a doctor administer it, and in that case likely also didn't do it extensively enough to suffer the side effects of the 'Splicers' we saw in the game. )
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New Product and Industry - PEOPLE DIE !!! :
ADAM discovered and research started early 1950s in Rapture (1952 1950 ??)
Early use for Medical Therapies ( applied by Medical Professionals - NO GENETIC MODIFICATION YET )
MAJOR Societal Saturating Products Are Developed ( Mostly Gimmicks ) 
Sold in Vending Machines ? We don't know when the Gatherers Gardens started : BEFORE or AFTER the Kashmir_Incident and the Terrorists disrupted Rapture. Ryan speaks about mass selling, and there are huge billboard adverts, and samples in Ryan Amusements ... But how much was accomplished ?? That commercialism seems out of place if there is a %27civil_war%27 underway.
'Shit Hit The Fan' end of 1958 (COMBAT PLASMIDS) - The Pinnacle of development would be under Ryan Pinnacle of ADAM Development 1959 - It is doubtful Sofia Lamb could do much new with so much infrastructure ruined and key personnel dead. 
SEE how SHORT a timespan that is ?? 'Trial and Error' incremental takes time (as in many decades) for something of this sophistication/advancement ( and in such an era-undeveloped Science - and for something you shove into the human body ). 
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Partial MMORPG FIX : Have the discovery be even earlier ex -1948 to at least give it a few more years to develop - PERHAPS even 1946 with Tenenbaum immediately arriving post end WW2 ( Displaced Personhttps://www.thefreedictionary.com/displaced+person )
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Lets IGNORE AND WIPE the idiotic BaSx plot elements where Fink ( the Technological Caveman ) achieves the same in mere months after merely LOOKING through Tears - Levine & Co ate the Fruit of the 'Hack-Writer Tree', and Went 'Full Retard'. (( NOTE - The whole Multiverse thing WILL NOT BE in the MMORPG except maybe as demented Splicer Dreams ))
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Watson and Crick Did Not Identify the Structure of the DNA Molecule Until 1953  :
Which unless Rapture's Science was accelerated well beyond what was happening on the Surface, the genetic work would have been done without the chemical understanding of the basic chemistry involved.
Early Plasmids/Tonics may have been more tissue development using surgery to locally apply/implant them to Humans, rather than the "Drink/Inject This" automatic/self-administered mechanism we saw in the game.   Stem Cell stimulation/regeneration would be possible without too much additional control to genetically modify anything.
Direct genetic manipulation could then have come later to justify what we saw in 1960, and even then many of the Plasmids/Tonics we never used could still be based on that other mechanism ( and who says Jack didn't come 'pre-installed', armed for his intended mission ?? ).
The ADAM you got in the game itself may have been a 'booster' to activate/maintain the effect (and the lack of regular doses of ADAM then leading to breakdown and systemic disruptions). We don't know how many 'brains' were burned out to achieve the ADAM Technology.
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Real Genetic Science - Its NOT "Insert Tab AA Into Slot EE" :
I have been reminded of how complex REAL genetic manipulation is.  Even today, the technology is in its infancy, and what would have been done in Rapture's era would be practically blind and 'Neanderthal primitive'.
Due to the complexity of what some of the Plasmids/Tonics achieved, their application and maintenance may have been a bit more complicated than just a simple injection or easy oral consumption.   For well-developed Consumer Products, they might eventually have features added to make this simpler ( which likely was previously only available when applied by trained Plasmid Application Specialists -- just like you had Steinman do the actual shaping surgery of a face ).  The Later Machines ( like the Gatherers Garden or the Gene Bank ) may have performed some rather complicated actions automatically as part of your 'purchase'.
The most complicated Plasmids ( like the Combat Plasmids ) may still for a long time have required complex manual application by the user, and when playing we didn't see ALL what the Gatherers Garden actually did  ( or how long it took to accomplish ) -- all the played characters were largely zoned-out on ADAM already, or were weird mutants, SO we cannot really account for their perceptions of reality.  Jack, while being 'made', must've been subjected to all kind of similar physiological procedures which he just sat through and waited for without even thinking about it.
Application may have included injection in specific parts of the body or pre-injections of activation markers ( ie- You tied the tourniquet and injected into the specific arm you wanted to "Fire the Bees" from ...     and then massaged the proximity as the required Plasmids tissue arrangement formed ).
Some of the Plasmids may not have been completely genetic/physiological, and instead required worn/placed mechanical components usually found taped to the side of the Plasmid Bottle  ( ignored to keep the Game and animations simple -- heck they did that with ALOT of things in the games ... )  along with manual instructions as long as those for assembling an IKEA Entertainment Center furniture piece.    (( Funny would be a scene showing some very shoddy bootlegged (knockoff) Plasmid employing a large version of 'the Squirting Flower' mechanism, WHILE the user was doped-up on a substance making them not care or notice. ))
Plasmid/Tonic Maintenance may have included consuming various nutrients for the Plasmid to have proper effect  (ie- ingesting Carbohydrates would be logical for metabolic alcohol production for many of the flame projecting Plasmids, and with EVE as an obvious general powering component -- Funny if it turned out to be simply Glucose....).  Other actions may have been routinely required ( Like : Don't let your Plasmid's Expression Ports become clogged, or you may be subjected immediately to the harmful effects yourself on attempted use.  "Use the PROVIDED Pipe-Cleaner to ... " )   
Boosters/re-treatments for specific Plasmids may have been required for optimal functioning ( not just basic ADAM stem cell 'stuff' )   Reinforcement of more complicated tissue systems would be likely, as just one part going wrong/failing can disable/malfunction it all.
Missteps ( and/or poor quality ) in application of Plasmids/Tonics may have accelerated degeneration of the ADAM-users bodies ( ie- if you didn't do your preparatory 'rinse' with the proper neutralizing components at the tissue location where you are trying to apply a DIFFERENT Plasmid ).
Unfortunately, ONLY the 'quick change' mechanism was used/employed/shown for Players to facilitate the gameplay's Plasmid flexibility.  Most Splicers  ( who apparently have survived for a while ) use very few (or only one) Plasmid at a time and aren't shown swapping them.  Elsewhere, I've elaborated on how a multiple Plasmid 'swap' system might work ( and even in the Game they had the Gene Bank to swap Plasmids/Tonics within your limited number of available 'slots' ).    
The Hazards of malfunctioning of this more-complicated ADAM-body swap mechanism is offset in-game by the short period/duration of time the character ( Jack/Delta/Sigma ) gets played by the gamer.  Such hazards seem to be avoided by the game's long-surviving Splicers. 
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Development of Genetic Science in Rapture - A Bit Unrealistically Tight 'Schedule-wise' :
1953 was the year Crick & Watson's DNA structure ( Crystalography imaging indicating the helix pattern ) was determined. And then the whole mechanism of unzipping for replication and the constituent chemicals ? : Later. Lysing mechanisms ( chemicals which cut DNA/RNA ) ? : Later. Protein synthesis following RNA patterns, etc ... All this research took DECADES of further work done by far more brilliant brainiacs than could EVER be IN Rapture Gentic Technology Anachronism - Having Columbia's Fink have anything to do with - IT is plain bad Magic_Fantasy unworthy of a BioShock game. 
AT the time of the game, Genetic/DNA Biology was a bit underdeveloped as a Science, making it very hard to justify the small isolated city of Rapture making much headway at that time AND in the rather limited timeframe given in the story ( 'wave of the hand' to go from a mere simple concept to mass-produced industry ADAM product ).
BTW, Rapture was supposed to be 'cut off' from the Surface around 1952 ( making it hard to get the latest scientific papers ). But the games story is vague and not actually blocking that possibility.
Existence of (hypothetical) Secret decades-long Nazi research ??? Definitely Needed to leverage the Science forward, and to jump-start Rapture's progress ? ( Without it having leaked to the rest of the World ... ) -- Could help explain it only so much.
So from the start, the game-writers story pushes an unexplained unrealistic schedule for the basic Genetic technology that is supposed to lead to 'the Shock'.
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Genetic 'Fluxions' - Suchong and the Calculus of Genetic Modification :
The calculation that allowed changing physical attributes of a human, and to create non-natural structures and abilities. Allowed theorizing a desired effect without excessive incremental trial and error testing -- greatly accelerated the development process.
Plasmids and Tonics - main difference is Plasmids require EVE to function/power ( Assume that Tonics use normal metabolic mechanism - and at a much lower rate ).
Computer aided computations greatly accelerated the genetic technology, and as often happens allowed further improvements in bio-electronic technologies resulting in even more capable computers. ( Wash, Rinse and Repeat )
New Genetic understanding led to tailoring pharmaceutical chemicals to effect corrections/compensations ( versus genetic modification ). Being able to alter organisms to synthesize the various bio-chemicals greatly decreased the expense of producing them and made other possible that previously never could be produced outside of the laboratory. Even new processes for esoteric industrial chemicals became common.
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Engineering With 'Biologicals' :
Many Plasmids are not a simple 'one-physiological-change' mechanism. Many require very specific structures to be 'constructed' within the Splicers (ADAM Users) body :
* Aiming ( arm use is handy to do much of that control )
* Activation ( Physiological Nerve tie-in - a McClendon involvement there )
* Projection ( propelling something at a target )
* Generation ( of a projected substance, and possibly its propellant from within the body )
* Preparation-cycle/charging ( Energy used from human physiology to create the driving force and and chemicals involved )
* Epileptic Seizure inducing flashy things ( Bioluminescence that's really bright )
Etc ...
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ADAM Itself NOT Being 'Stem Cells' :
Recent (Real) research on "Stem Cells" has a theory that the Stem Cells introduced may not actually be used to build new tissue but may release chemical triggers which are used by cell tissue to induce regeneration/generation phases within the cells.   That might explain how the Sea Slug ADAM, allegedly Stem Cells in the game, might happen to work, WHEN they ARE be from a distinctly different organism ( quite far from "human" Stem Cells ).  That they are really a biochemical mechanism that induce Stem-Cell formation and/or regeneration of human tissues ( which then for the game are used to  re-form body tissue applying the extra DNA from the Plasmids ).  That would also account for cases where the small volume of ADAM taken results in large amount of body tissue reformation.
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ADAM Actually Stem Cells ? -- Or Something That Makes Stem Cells Form ? :
Easy To Say for a Game Writer, but it doesn't make sense when you know what 'Stem-Cells' are.
Was the Sea Slugs venom ( the bite on that guy whose hand was fixed ) not actually something (some active component of the  venom) that changed/REVERTED some of The Guy's tissue INTO HIS OWN "Stem-Cells" -- So that his body could self-repair itself  ( using the Guys own DNA ) ?   The bite with raw ADAM-chemicals venom probably was less efficient (and  slower), AND it had used The Guy's own DNA as the pattern for the repairs. It apparently was RIGHT ON that injured hand ( which localized the venom's effect ).
Of course, that would be the starting point of the Technology - Where 'humanizing' the process, with additional elements being added into the mix to speed up the 'fixing'/repairing or even RNA changes.  Medical uses were probably what Tenenbaum had though of on first discovering its affect.    Advances (by Suchong ?) then allowed applying NEW genetic patterns to create whole new DNA/RNA patterned structures in the User's Body ( the whole system of Plasmids and Tonics and the later interchangeable 'Slots' ).  Of course such changes eventually deteriorate, with the new DNA/RNA patterns fighting the persons original DNA, and the subsequent resulting bodily disruptions/cancers/mental-unhingings, etc ...
It is possible that in New Rapture, ADAM will be mandated to only be used for Restoration and Healing -  Where the pure DNA of an individual is used, so no conflicts ( and their disastrous side-effects ) will result.    Of course there will be those who break this mandate (we can't have a BIOSHOCK game without at least some possibility of genetic super-powers, can we ????)
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Actual Amounts of Active Ingredient in Raw ADAM ?? :
Ex- "Curare" 0.002 grams of "Ouabain" ( the active ingredient ) is a lethal dose for an adult human ( amount roughly equivalent to 2 grains of sand )- when introduced to the Human Blood Stream.
Various biochemicals that induce reactions in tissue need not be of great bulk. It is BS that ADAM is "Stem Cells", which cannot possibly have already matched the recipient's DNA ( and you would need a huge mass of to it make the large tissue changes shown in-game, and then need to be diluted to be able to supposedly pass easily through the users blood stream ). Instead, it is something that induces the conversion/reversion of existing cells back to Stem Cell state at certain areas of the body, which then adopt some new genetically controlled configuration. That tissue then carries out the functions required by the Plasmid. Early Medical uses made possible the body repairing itself to its original DNA, before the subsequently added genetic changes.
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Tenenbaum Really Only Knows So Much About ADAM :
Tenenbaum (Audio Diary) : "ADAM acts like a benign cancer, destroying native cells and replacing them with unstable stem versions. While this very instability is what gives it its amazing properties, it is also what causes the cosmetic and mental damage. You need more and more ADAM just to keep back the tide. From a medical standpoint, this is catastrophic. From a business standpoint, well ... Fontaine sees the possibilities."
That is Tenenbaum's 'Theories' About How ADAM Appears to Work :
Is Tenenbaum there making that statement 'before'- when ADAM Products might have been largely weaker (non-combat strength), OR is it LATER after mass usage of the combat-type Plasmids were used much more ( and is she talking about "abuse" cases specifically there ) ? 
Case : Pre-Kashmir (BaSx) - You get that faddish BIC lighter thumb and then stop ( no more boosters ? ) when it is passe ( and everyone is using it so its no longer 'in' ), and so suddenly after only that you're a raving loon/homicidal maniac, ready to murder to get more ADAM ? ( There must be a matter of degree here somewhere ).
So you may have to CONSIDER what Tenenbaum says here as from the point of time she might have said it - (?) as in made MUCH 'later' *OR* it would be the case where the insanity/physical-degeneration WOULD have been widespread, and thus an Obvious ( not just hints/whisperings ) known issue - when ADAM had been previously 'more casually' used by some of the population for YEARS. (( BTW - Consider that much of what you think you know was told to you by Atlas who was a liar and trying to manipulate you. ))
When the so-called 'civil war' ( the Terrorist Parasite Rebellion ) started, ADAM quality and safety-features probably deteriorated/were-eliminated, with far less interest in the users stability, versus how much damage a Plasmid could do ( particularly with the stuff provided by Fontaine/Atlas for his minions ). It actually WAS NOT in Fontaine's interest to have ADAM users be sane. 
Human bodies also can tolerate and fix alot of maladys (( IE- you have cancer cells in you right now, which your body continually kills/supresses )). With greater use of cruder ADAM products, that self-repair capacity could be overwhelmed. Damages still could be cumulative - nothing says there can't be multiple biological mechanisms at work.
We have no evidence mentioned from the earlier ADAM-use times of massive problems for any ( likely heavier) users ( ie- use as 'recreational drugs by the affluent - hints about Sander Cohen ref... ). The horrible results SHOULD have been Big News in Rapture (and impossible to coverup - Ryan certainly wouldn't).
Perhaps in the earlier time, the complex/massive 'Mod' Plasmids/Tonics really didn't yet exist, AND those advertised 'spectacular' product effects were largely exaggerated. ADAM tech took years to develop, and then to productize ( and also to have enough ADAM produced to make it less expensive than a luxury item ). 
So its possible the really widespread ordinary use was only a short time before Kashmir ?
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In an Audio Diary from Minervas Den, Tenenbaum Hints That 'the predatory nature' of ADAM Might Be Controlled :
Tenenbaum (Minervas Den) : "ADAM is a predatory substance. After exposure, a constant supply is required to maintain its effects; otherwise the user deteriorates into madness. My Plasmid which releases the Little Ones from their servitude is promising, but limited; it only works on the children with the slugs in their bellies. On an adult Splicer or Big Daddy you see rejection effect. Undesirable. But if the deterioration of mind and body were reversible -- if ADAM sickness could be cured -- then its predatory nature would be no more ..."
Would this mean that MMORPG Players MIGHT be able to have Tonics/Plasmids in the game ( not just Roleplaying of Splicers ... )??
That would restore one aspect being largely cut out if Players were to ALL be 'Cured' "Ex-Splicers"
Severe Limitations would have to be made upon their use -- make them 'Special' and not common.  Make them only usable one at a time and be hard to get ahold of ( and to wear out once you had them ).
It would require some Justification : Deleterious effects of 'Reverting back' to the damage with the old-type 'common' ADAM that would be produced outside New Rapture.  Need to prevent Players from just using the stuff they find as loot ( not as common as it was, but there ARE still LS and BD wandering around, and someone still harvesting the stuff ).
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Tenenbaum "In front of a Gene Sequence" :
Suchong : "That's quite a little monster Fontaine's dug up. When she does speak, which is almost never, her accent is thick and grating. Her hair is filthy and she seems to wear the same mustard-stained jumper day after day. But I've got to hand it to Frank: Tenenbaum is the all-time diamond in the rough. No formal training, no experience ... but put her in front of a gene sequence, and she's Mozart at the harpsichord."
A 'Gene Sequence' is something you look at ( actual nucleotides - their actual 'A T C G' sequence patterns ). The techniques came years later - Genetic Sequencers the ability to identify DNA/RNA patterns - very complex and alot of work by hundreds of brilliant minds.
Basic Bacteria ( ie- E Coli - simple bacteria organism/tissue ) has ~4 million base pairs of Amino Acids (~3000 Genes) - That's ALOT of "stringing the nucleotide beads", a bit more than one 'long nights work', assuming you know/understand the order you want them to be in. Plasmids ( the independent loops of DNA utilized ) fortunately can have base pair sequences only in the thousands.
So again the Plasmid/Tonic effects should ( to be within the realm of possibility ) HEAVILY need to make use of EXISTING genes/sequences from EXISTING biological examples for the effects the Plasmid/Tonics achieve, and the mechanisms they are implemented through.
We already know that the ADAM products aren't particularly stable, so THAT aspect makes it a bit simpler to design ( Alot of a real organisms genetic/body mechanisms have complex redundancy/self-repair built into them to be resistant to all the external forces which can damage/disrupt their function and limit the organism's continued existence. ) The genetics used can be quite a bit cruder than Nature's ...
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The ADAM Application Process More Realistic :
For a Plasmid/Tonic or even a Medical Heal - it would be done/applied over period of weeks ( simple things taking shorter, more complex ones a longer time ). It would be a carefully orchestrated process taking skilled technicians.
Note - ADAM is NOT Stem Cells ( that is know-nothing ignorance - and they made Tenenbaum say it ) - Instead ADAM causes reversion of the body's tissue into unformed/undifferentiated Stem Cells ( so they can reform guided by DNA/RNA ).
Thus it has to be applied INTO the specify body location - into lower arm usually for Plasmids ( Sorry, no "Just Drink This" or "Inject this into a Vein" Game Expediency. ) You don't want critical parts of your body (organs/brain) reverting to 'Stem Cells' willy-nilly, and losing their function if they have nothing to do with the Plasmid/Tonic/Repair. You also don't want it spread out in the body and be wasted - just in the spots the genetic change is going to modify.
RNA is the introduced to those Stem Cells (again, locally), which then gets activated by Gene 'Promotors' being introduced ( usually a very specific Sequence of them to cause formation of the tissue's structures the Plasmids/Tonics require ).
The application must NOT change too much of the tissue needed to keep all the local flesh alive -- Doing as little as possible disrupting of local metabolic operations, and the other functional structures. The hand/arm/bones/nerves/tendons/cartilage doesn't dissolve away when an Incinerate! (implementing its specific operation) is installed ( which fires through an opening in the hand and has its operative structure up the arm ). All the Splicers seem to still have their appendages functional.
DNA changes require VERY Complex gene patching ( which the scientists/medical-technicians can barely do today ). This would be for a permanent change.
Retro-virus ? (injecting operational RNA into cells at the Plasmid site - added INTO the cells but NOT into the cells nucleus/DNA). This would work as a short term change, after which it degrades.
EVE apparently is an energy source for the Plasmids ( but not the Tonics ... ? ). Most effective if the EVE is injected into an EVE reservoir at/near the Plasmid site. 
Quick Switch Plasmids (in-game) could be explained by Multiple Plasmid Installations ( most Splicers didn't have more than one or two ) with separate activations triggers (manual nerve control is simplest). 
Gene Bank changes are more a wiping-out/disabling Plasmids/Tonics and replacing/reactivating others.
The RNA deteriorates with time, and the Tissue implementing the Plasmid/Tonic is disrupted/degrades ( partial reversion by the original DNA, via processes which include tissue rejection and normal cell replacement ).
Tissue Rejection Suppressors would be an added feature for the Plasmid/Tonic product.
Secondary therapies can be needed to rebuilt important tissue which may disrupted/rearranged by the 'modification installation process'.
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In the MMORPG You can run into Spider Splicers who had the most drastic body changes, but with most of their original transformation requiring substantial reversions, they retain their grotesque shape and are now weak.
Biological processes of the functional Plasmid tissue gets 'Charge Up' (for each use) before a Plasmid can activate/fire, and with Plasmid/Tonic degradation can decrease in effectiveness. The MMORPG can reflect this degradation. The reactive Chemicals in the Plasmids reservoirs (used to 'fire') need refilling which is a metabolic operation. 
Good thing that we killed Splicers so fast that they didn't get to let them fire too many times.
Imagine how many Experiments/Test/Biopsies were required to work out (and isolate) the required 'Promoter' sequences for just one Plasmid/Tonic type, and to compose the complex structures which the Plasmids functions required ( including those implemented by NON-human RNA ). 
The ADAM genetic modification itself would also have to overwhelm the natural tendencies of the users DNA mechanisms which repairs tissue damage, which would FOLLOW the users natural DNA patterns.
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Rapture's ADAM Enabled Tools to Further Genetic Developments :
Use of genetic mechanisms now were easier to control using ADAM-related technical processes. Biochemicals used as tools to manipulate organisms are complicated/expensive to synthesize.   Methods could now be created to genetically modify existing organisms to produce these chemicals much cheaper ( like today where E Coli bacteria are manipulated to produce Insulin in the real world ).
Many of the medical 'Tonics' ( the first USEFUL ADAM products ) are formulated to generate/moderate various biochemicals in the human body to cause various effects and restore normal function.   Some are temporary Therapies, while others are permanent introduction of the corrections and repairs/regeneration.   Some human tissues can be simply modified the same way - leading to the cosmetic uses ( the NEXT set of Products ).
Various ADAM type projects desired by the City could be available for the Player to assist ( lots of fetch missions for materials, tools, knowledge, know-how  -- Without requiring the genius or PhDs in genetics ).
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Steroids Fit Into The ADAM/Genetic Technologies :
Biochemicals which regulate many aspects of metabolism and structural formation of an organism.
Synthesizing steroids had been going on since the 30's.  So Rapture research utilized a technology which already had much previous work.
Plasmids/Tonics were not the product of simple changes to humans, but consisted of complex structural modification and maintenance/stabilizing of those modifications.   ADAM Genetic Modification broke thru the limitations of previous chemical manipulations made possible by Steroid application.
Its all intertwined with 'The Cure', and undoing side-effects and damage of all of the above.  There would be many MMORPG Missions to go find Research and Materials/Equipment lost in many places in Rapture.  It wont be as easy as seeking a sample of Rosa Gallica conveniently located nearby.   Do a favor for 'The Clinic', and your usefulness may put YOU further up some future 'Reattach Arm' surgery priority list.
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Justifying ADAM Tech - More Genius Than Genius ??? :
Alot of the genetic change/modification capability/technology doesn't exist today (still too complex/not yet understood, etc ... ), but what if in Rapture one of the first (even with 'hard'/'slow') developments was 'Brainboost' ??? It could be initially administered in some slow tedious complicated way, but capable of turning on much of that 90% of our brains we don't use -- with not so drastic a genetic change - something that is largely already there. Secondary assistance 'drugs' might also be part of the activation. 
(Note - that many possible detrimental mental side effects might be acceptable for many individual to further their technology careers and to gain the rewards. Hinted in the game and Novel was the possibility that Fontaine ( maybe Sofia Lamb later ) could have coerced their employees into using 'Brainboost' Tonics.
Using all that unlocked brain power, could make the 'Improved Brain-Boost' easier to then create, and then likewise make the next better 'Super GT Brainboost' even easier to create. Thus resulting in even greater 'genius' ability to understand and more rapidly create all the rest of these more sophisticated ADAM things, those which require more massive genetic manipulation ( and later the packaging for the Presto-Chango simple-one-step magic bottle products ). That increased brainpower would be applicable to everything else in Rapture.
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Hyp-No-Tized !!!! :
Hypnotize might have been an outgrowth of a Maintenance Cyborg control mechanism, when they (BDs) were used for many varying tasks - Like for their City Maintenance activities ( when they run with direction from centralized tasking ). Local supervisors may have used this to direct more coordinated operations or to better control them when they start having problems.
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Insect Swarm
Bee Plasmid - things manually thrown at an enemy ( possibly fired shotgun-like ) - blobs of Neuro-toxin that hurts/stings if it touches skin (or is breathed in ??)
What crazy Splicers thing they see/are-doing and what the 'Plasmid' really is can be two VERY different things.
--
add the others?
Incinerate!
Electro Bolt
Telekinesis
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Skin of the Gods ? :
No skeletons amongst all the Corpses - consider one of the early ADAM-based therapies was skin wrinkle removal (revitalization). (No rats ? Splicers ate most of them, and with few left who nibble the skin - it grows back ...)
"Smooth Skin that keeps Growing EVEN After You DIE !!!!" (Advertisement you probably WOULDN'T hear)
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ADAM-Created Plasmid Control Mechanisms :
Early (Rapture) biological control switches developed for controlling Plasmids resulted in someone recognizing their potential for some kind of 'Bio-Electronic' use -- someone showed it (sold the idea) to McClendon. Most Plasmid mechanisms would used 'nerve cluster' activations ( manually pressed pad and/or controlled by odd muscle combinations to help prevent embarrassing/disastrously unintended activation ), rather than some horrendously complicated wiring into your nervous system. It is MUCH simpler ( as in possibly having a chance ) to make it work that way. Alot of the placement of Plasmids was done manually during "installation" by the 'Plasmid Specialist' - as it a bit kind of hard to get such things to place/work automatically (and reliably) via 'genetics'. 
That mechanism ( and similar more advanced ones ), once in place could be reused by different Plasmids (and with Jack/Delta/etc ... Its Something they could have pre-installed before their Plasmids got 'activated' in Rapture - done before the time of the game. After all, Jack would have to be trained for Plasmid use, wouldn't he ? And Delta was an 'old' hand Demonstrating Plasmid in Fontaines Plasmid circus - seen In Fontaine Futuristics (game level)).
There would be significant complications in one person having multiple Plasmids ( or more than one on each hand/arm ). The physiological Plasmid implementation ( versus that vague magical simplification done for game expediency, OR the Novel author's showing more strange details/powers to make it look even more MAGICAL (as in "outside of physical law" possible - some rather finely described "power of the mind" looking stuff ).
Fancier arrangements could have multiple Plasmids activatable ( like for the Player's quick switch 'Slots' - switching between them rapidly 'on the fly' ). The Players HAD to have that for game interest ( and it would also be at the pinnacle of ADAM tech by the BS1 time ). If you notice, most Splicers did NOT have dual Plasmids -- except for a few like Houdinis, and them having an 'Attack Plasmid', as well as the 'Teleport' movement ability (which isn't "limb" dependent).
Spliced-Up-Atlas had a Multi-Plasmid ability at the end of BS1, as did Eleanor in BS2.
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Note - much of whats seen in the game could be Delusion - so that ADAM_Addled Jack or crazy Delta/Sigma actually didn't use more than just one Plasmid ( only thinking they were as they killed Splicers so fast ), and thus eliminating a problematical 'fast switching' between a large number of Plasmids. 
In the MMORPG, the Player (despite being an ex-Splicer who has no Plasmids/Tonics) gets to play some Splicer characters - in all kinds of Roleplaying and Flashback scenarios ( and then wouldn't have 'switching' - Just like the generic Splicers seen in the Solo Games ). We gotta have the Player allowed some fun with Plasmids/Tonics still, and this would be their opportunity ( beside being on the receiving end of Plasmid use ).
Of course, we can still have more realistic/detailed operations of Plasmids and Tonics ( and some later faulty(er) ones, and ones with more limited combinations/availability ), which will make it somewhat more interesting to the Player. 
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Plasmid 'Slots'  - Justifying the Quick Change Plasmid System ? :
Since we have the Plasmid switching/changing for our Super-Splicers (Jack, Delta, Sigma), which IS done on the same appendage -- IS it a structural variability ( Incinerate! one minute, ElectroBolt the next -- but both structures in the body being present simultaneously ) ?  -OR-  Actual changes being made to shift all the tissue involved around for each Plasmid ? ( in seconds ... rather unlikely, and this is supposed to be  Sci-Fi not magic ... But for the sake of gameplay they allowed the player to switch nearly instantly ... )
The Gene Bank machines might do something of the second change type  ( sucking the genetic pattern out of  your Plasmid/Tonic "slots", or you body, or setting triggers to disable the different Plasmids' function )  -OR- Alternately, removing/reverting the tissue structure a Plasmid uses ( the first change type above ).   That Gene Bank (despite it seeming to take moments to us) could be a complex machine, with injectible chemicals/blood filtering, etc, etc ... ( external stuff and no mind-control 'will' involved ) which took a bit of time to accomplish the 'Gene' modifications.  In Real Rapture, there would be a Coin Slot for performing this service.  But for a game mechanism where they didn't want to limit the Player, if they had no money, a coin slot is missing.
I suppose adding a second tier to 'Plasmid' (and Tonic) operations - for the whole Plasmid/Tonic technology  system ---  there could be a SUPER (duper/deluxe/advanced) feature of the ADAM-type genetic modifications,  which facilitates YOU (the ADAM user) changing them when desired ( essentially a lesser Gene Bank mechanism being built into your body ... ).  It would manipulating/activating/deactivating the Plasmid 'slots', which  itself would require some additional component integrated with the 'Plasmids' and 'Tonics'.  Activation via 'will' or just some physical trigger to make the changes happen when YOU decide ...  Via some physiological mechanism, which implements some new muscle/nerve path ( added somewhere in your body ), which you usually would not trigger by you existing reflexes/bodily actions - just like firing.  ( You don't want "Flame On!!!" when you hiccup ... )
This kind of thing is a Fancier, more complex systems of genetic modifications -- more expensive and requires more ADAM.   Likely it was not commonly used by the population ( in the game there are few Multi-Plasmid Splicers/Bosses ), and it may have been found to have great risk.  Later with ADAM shortages not that many Splicers could have too many Plasmids/Tonics.
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DNA/RNA Plasmids 101 :
A (real world) Plasmid is extra-chromosomal DNA molecules separate from the chromosomal DNA and replicates independently. This molecule creates proteins which modify a cell's behavior. It can be based on an extra loop of DNA originally taken from a bacteria or virus. This DNA is cut in two specific places using a tailored pair of 'lyse' Enzymes ( Enzymes are molecules that cause a reaction/interact without being used up ) to prepare the DNA segment for application to a virus. Into this C shaped loop of DNA you fit a selected set of genes into the gap. These genes when 'expressed' will make the needed tissue changes required for the Plasmids final use. Other chemicals trigger/activate the genes.
A Virus is engineered to introduce the Plasmid DNA molecule into an organism's tissue Cells. That virus must be replicated many times inside other host cells with the new DNA pattern because of the difficulty of manipulating the single DNA. That DNA must be experimentally verified for proper effect, and the same replicated virus once identified can then be used to produce large batches.
There is a chemical used to control(enable) the normal virus replication behavior when required. You don't want to destroy the final target body with an unrestricted viral infection, so inducing replication would be using something NOT found in the target organisms (human's) body. This allows infection/introduction of body tissue cells with the desired genes without an uncontrolled spread of the virus and the death of the host cells. You DO want replication when you are manufacturing large amounts of the virii in a 'culturing' medium ( which is some quantity of compatible tissue ).
Viral vector(s) are then used to to insert (multiple) modified genes for the effects desired for the entire Plasmid. This might encompass dozens of different tissue changes each with one or more of its own virus so that the Process can be sequenced and controlled. ( Usually applying them one at a time to the final target. )
One or more Plasmid DNAs would be introduced to a body's tissues to produce the desired physical modifications ( which produce the desired abilities/effects ). Complex changes can take modification/alteration of many different tissues potentially in quite specific configurations ( and in relation/proximity to each other ).
 
This is where ADAM comes in, as ADAM creates Stem Cells ( or reverts existing cells ), which become versatile un-formed cells, which can directly change to become different tissue depending on where they are placed (and the Plasmid will make that tissue form differently than it naturally would at that point in the body). This creates Induced Pluripotent cells ( the transformation of Differentiated (formed) Cells into Stem Cells (unformed) )
Are the Plasmids seen in the game possible ? ( or is this just fantasy ? )
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Suchong - "ADAM Is The Canvas" :
The substance known as ADAM apparently makes cells within a mature organism revert to their Stem Cell (unformed) state so that they can be activated to form new/replacement ( potentially different tissue ), guided by the cells DNA ( which might be modified/added to ) and by introduced RNA. Making localized body modifications via rebuilding tissues is a plausible genetic tech development given that reversion ability. 
There are known "Promoters", which only function in certain types of tissues and within specific contexts within the body. Some genes are needed in the liver, or finger, or brain, which are not needed elsewhere. Cells control which genes are expressed/activated using different transcription factors ( with affinities for different Promoters ) in response to different signals, tissue developmental or otherwise. When a gene is identified which is only expressed within a specific tissue, its activator signal can be used to activate genes which are needed correctly in the target tissue. 
By controlling such Promoter mechanisms, one or more tissues would be built/guided to form what is required to carry out the Plasmid/Tonics functionality - though not quite as fast as the initial application ( drinking the Plasmid ) shown in-game, or for the game interface's Quick Switch Plasmids, or use of a Gene Bank changing out Tonics. 
The 'Promoter' agent would have to also be specifically placed for each different structure or phase of the structure to be guided correctly. This process happens normally from proximity to various other/same tissues, but the structures required by the Plasmid/Tonic are ABNORMAL and all the trigger factors may NOT be in place for a normal activation.
Example - A viral gene 'Eye' therapy works by attaching a Retina specific Promoter to the integrated gene, limiting its expression only to retinal tissues. Combined with the inability of the virus to replicate, you get tissue-specific gene/protein expression. While such processes don't yet exist in the Real World for every tissue type, it is likely they exist ( as it is what makes your body form naturally ) and could be found and made use of. 
Medical Therapies employing various gene 'promoters' to REPAIR damage using Stem Cells would be done simpler when they don't require changes to someone's genetics. Stimulating NATIVE Stem Cell Formation is the fundamental requirement for all of this. THAT would be one of the primary functions of the Sea Slug venom chemicals ( Suchong : "ADAM is the Canvas" ). Stem Cells have to be created by the person's body FIRST - they have the person's own DNA pattern to use ( Adult Stem Cell research has made the only viable advances in the Real World, and uses cells from the patient cultured Externally, which then are reintroduced into the patient to make the repair ). 
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Modified Genetics via (Real) "Plasmids" :
So how do you produce these Non-Virulent Virus units to be the tool to modify cells by adding the genetic 'Plasmid' material ? You need to mass produce them within another cell type, BUT not allow the virii the attribute of a typical virus ( which replicates itself within a targeted cell ). Some intra-cellular switch is required to control virus building -- turned ON within cells targeted as Virus Factories ( to grow large numbers of the Plasmid carrying virus ). Then when the virus is deployed, the switch is OFF, blocking that (destructive) virus reproduction behavior in the target tissue cells ( otherwise all you built was a uncontrolled viral disease ).
Tissue rejection would be one of the problems to be solved. You body will usually attack foreign substances it detects. Whatever genetically modified tissues are required for the would have to be masked sufficiently to NOT be seen as foreign.
One of the side effects of repeated modifications in this mechanism is the accumulation of genetic garbage within the ADAM Users body Cells. The human body can remove/neutralize this debris (repair damaged tissue), but this can take time. ( This is one of the causes of the ADAM Sickness, which afflicts Splicers ).
Methods like LOCAL introduction of the virii directly into targeted tissue and temporary reduction of circulation can lessen the spread (and wastage) of the active virus component into untargeted tissues.
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Note - These Genetic Modification processes should not be so 'Instant' as implied in the game (nor the ADAM Medical Healing ). The BioShock Solo games were 'FPS' (shooter games), and while playing you can't stand around for days waiting for your tissues to reorganize themselves. In MMORPG Rapture, changes should not (and need not) be so fast. Even in the game's fantasy, early ADAM Products could have been quite slow, when many of the solutions for the delivery complexities had NOT been developed yet, and the early 'Therapy' would be closely applied/controlled by a physician.
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Gene Sequencer (Reading Gene Patterns, Not Building Them) : 
Old visualization image of early Gene Sequencer output ( Looks fancier these days when the technique is far more advanced and all automatic/computerized ). DNA is fragmented using chemical reagents which BREAK the DNA molecule at the location of a known short nucleotide pattern. 
The black/grey lines are photo images of the fluorescing sample filterings and indicates the amount of the presence of the different fragment lengths. ( Florescent chemicals are attacked to nucleotides, which then glow with greater intensity when MORE fragments of the filtered DNA molecules exist. ) 
The filtering is done by the length of DNA fragments which have been 'lysed' ( DNA removed from cells and then cut at very specific nucleotide sequence points by a lysing reagent ). The technique is usually done on DNA fragments of less than 80 base pairs.
The intensity (dark color) reflects the presence ( and higher ratio of ) certain short sequence fragments of DNA.
This visualization allows COMPARING DNA from different individuals in which DIFFERENCES of the particular lyse pattern (the DNA pattern) can be identified. Additional development found numerous lysing reagents, as well as tagging the different nucleotides differently which allowed greater differentiation of particular sequence patterns
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ADAM Discovery Thing :
Tenenbaum : "This little Sea Slug has come along and glued together all the crazy ideas I've had since the war... It doesn't just heal damaged cells, it ... resurrects them ... I can bend the double helix ... black can be reborn white, tall, short, weak, strong ... But the slugs alone are not enough ... I'll need money ... and one other thing ..."
The "double-helix" model of DNA structure was first published in the Journal Nature by James D. Watson and Francis Crick in 1953, ( X,Y,Z coordinates/geometry discovered in 1954 ) based upon the crucial X-ray diffraction image of DNA labeled as "Photo 51", from Rosalind Franklin in 1952) (( Hint - info from The Surface 'flowed into Rapture even after the 'closing off from the Surface' ...))
Very tight timing there ( for the soon following ADAM Plasmid developments, with their abilities for significant genetic modifications - to allow widespread commercial product use in Rapture by 1959 ). It is always possible ( but maybe unlikely ) that scientists in Rapture had discovered this structure earlier, so that Tenenbaum could be familiar with it. Most of the further understandings of 'nucleotides' and 'base-pairs' and interactions with 'RNA' and synthesizing proteins came in the following decades on The Surface ( rather alot for the few genetic specialists in Rapture to have come up with in a short time ). 
I can think of some rather CRUDE ways to try to introduce the ADAM effect to change body tissue. ( nothing Fontaine would avoid ).
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Fluorescent Proteins ( Real World ) :
Used to mark various biological organisms/chemicals/structures, and used in analysis of various genetic processes ( visible under the ultraviolet light spectrum ).
Unfortunately it is not bio-luminescence which gives that nifty gloweyness to shit. This rather is fluorescing under certain frequencies of light. It can be used to differentiate and measure 'tagged' proteins, and is useful in genetic/biochemical experimentation.
It potentially can be used as an indicator of certain process within cells ( as in the manipulations done for the Bio-Electronics processes ). Thus a use to gauge progress/result in genetic manufacturing processes/applications.
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FANBOI WARNING - THE FOLLOWING MAY SHAKE YOUR SANITY 
Hearing about Fink in BS:Infinite allegedly Using/Making Plasmids (Vigors) somehow stolen from Rapture, My comment was : "Seriously, Fink's Nucleotide Sequencer is Steam Powered !!!, Truly Truly ABSURD. You might as well be able to Read : "Anything For A Buck - How I Sold Out The BioShock Branding ( And Betrayed The Fans )" by Kenneth Levine' 
This is one of those "Yeah Riiiight" moments : Fink sends some flunkies with cameras and Voxophones through Tears to 'record' things that he later builds so wondrously easily. Unfortunately, the thousand other missing sub-technologies/materials/skills required just don't exist in ~1912 -- WHICH makes it a MOMENTOUS raft of Absurdity ( Pure Fantasy the 'writers' don't know or care about - criminal - simply 'Wave of the Hand' plot crutches ). 
It is the equivalent of Fink getting the materials for and constructing a modern automobile using a 'Flint Rock Knife' and a 'piece of rawhide Bearskin' ( and all the while Caveman Fink is not even being allowed even to open the hood of the original car ). It is NOT that "It is just a game', it is the sloppy shit-runny pretense they ( all those talking heads from the gamemaker's company/studio/house-of-clowns, in ALL those interviews ) gave that the Infinite BS game is somehow "Historically Relevant", and great storytelling. Sorry, NOT with C R A P like this BS being associated with it. "The Land of Oz was more 'Historically Relevant' than your Columbia, Mr. Levine." - L. F. Baum
Spewing Bullshit to sell a game might be 'normal' in the industry, but doesn't make it any less dishonest - NOR any more justified.
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Good Idea, But It Didn't Work Out :
Someone in Rapture had a 'Idea' for a biological computer in single cells using RNA strands ( RNA role in protein synthesis discovered 1939 ) as "the program", and interlocking framework of microtubules and microfilament actuators to carry out the logical interactions/computations ( mechanical rod logic google "mechanical rod logic" - something once proposed for nano-technology, real world ). Signals come in and go out using a standard nerve cell signal mechanism, which is read by some electronics external to the Computing-Cell.
The idea would be to have whole arrays of these communicating to each other to do the logical operations of a Computer.
In the end, it resulted in not so much a working computer as a fairly well enough tasting artificial turtle soup. Changing/inserting the desired RNA into the cell to program the thing was a bit of a roadblock, besides the need to keep the 'computers' from dying, and of attacks by certain bacteria which acquired a taste for them.
A useful outcome of some of this technology was utilized as 'genetic switches' to control cell behavior during the growth and conversion processes for the successful Bio-Electronic technology. This other Bio-Electronics 'programming' was relatively simple, utilizing the nerve cell's natural learning process, which is then made static by killing the cells. The human consumed ADAM Plasmids/Tonics used a similar simpler 'switch' trigger mechanism, as their process to create their abilities in the human body which required controlled phasing of various Plasmid tissue steps. This 'switch' process was of limited duration, avoiding many of the 'living computers' issues.
So this is unfortunate for the Rapture Cyber Punk crowd who wanted Cybernetic enhancements employing a technology like this. Having really smart Flatworms just does not 'cut it' against that crowd's expectations.
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Psionic Airline to the Moon (Ryan's Project They Can Use For BioShock 3) : 
Sorry, its my joke about Plasmid abilities allegedly being Psionically-operated ( Using 'recessive' (magic) brain powers enabled by genetics ... Unfortunately recessive genes are constantly triggered/expressed in human individuals, and the World would ALREADY be quite a Freakshow IF it ACTUALLY did work that way. )
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Rapture Story of Discovery of Cellular Semi-Conductors :
A researcher in the ADAM industry was using an Electron Microscope to look at tissue samples modified by some Tonic solution ( the tissues are processed/dried and put in a vacuum for the electron bombardment/reflections to be viewable at very high resolution ). The researcher noticed an irregularity in sections of tissue which flared in the electron beam in an odd way. Scanning one direction, the flare occurred in a cellular filament, but confusingly when scanning the opposite direction the flare did not happen. 
A colleague was shown and mentioned something about the current flow on the test sample operating in only one direction - an attribute of a very basic/fundamental electronic property (operating as a Diode). Sometime later, this was remembered and it was mentioned in a lunchroom to another colleague who was working on an electrical-based Plasmid, whom it might prove useful to. Some further investigations were made to determine what was happening ( initiative is one of Rapture's bywords ). 
It turned out the Electron Microscope preparations introduced secondary chemicals into the tissue which were recombined in the 'drying out' process. The mechanism would not work on living tissue, but was mentioned inside Rapture's scientific grapevine, where it eventually reached the ear of McClendon who was having trouble miniaturizing components for his robotic control systems. The discovery gave McClendon a revolutionary idea about a new technology which would make use of ADAM's ability to change cell structures to 'grow' various electronic components from cell tissue. He found out what genetic changes were made to the original tissue which had exhibited the odd properties ( and what chemicals were used with the Electron microscope preparations ), and hired an ADAM technologist to reproduce those results and to do further investigation. 
Given some experimentation ( effort and time usually missing from the writer's stories ), the results were reproduced and then followed up by many refinements and adjustments. Much further development resulted in the Bio-Electronics technologies used for the new computer circuitry ( and gave McClendon his much 'smarter' robots and eventually made 'The Thinker' possible a few years later ).
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Nano-Tech - No No ... :
Assuming you could make Nano-Bots ... ( They can't do this today - 70 years later ). 
NANO-mechanisms are VERRRY Small having features in Nano-meters - the period at the end of this sentence is a bit bigger than a Millimeter, which is a MILLION times larger than a Nanometer. ( That's about how small those Nano-bot things are ).
Usually nano-tech robots are very Simple mechanisms, and it takes several different kinds to do each of a sequence of operations to get more Complex things built. To do complex processes, they generally would have to be guided by something larger that has that complex control pattern and is capable of directing placement markers where the nano-bots do their work. They also have to be powered ( in some biologically compatible solution containing their fuel ). 
Practical ones (to work outside of a sterile lab environment) would be many times the size of their theoretical versions because they would have to have various defenses against normal environmental factors (say in a human body) that would gum them up and quickly disrupt their function.
Since the Plasmid/Tonics are supposed to do very complex things to cells genetically ( mentioned way above ) they might be used for certain operations, but would not be usable for others ( hence the talk of tailored viruses, existing biological mechanisms, which have naturally optimized structure to do many of the required functions ). Nanobots ( or an assortment of them ) might be useful to clean up various by-products of the cell changes before the body reacts massively to them as contaminants. Time delay encapsulations exist as a technology today to time release the different constituents of a multi-phased Plasmid/Tonic process. 
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Why DO Plasmids/Tonic/ADAM/EVE Glow in such Pretty Colors ?? :
The active bio-chemicals in them DON'T glow normally ( and you don't want to be putting radioactive isotopes into your body ).
Bioluminescent additives would/could mainly be a Marketing Ploy ( same reason why MANY candies are 'pretty' looking ... ).
Such glowing bio-chemicals 'run out' of their bio-fuel eventually (they are fueled by ATP and such).
The more expensive product bottles might just have a Lil' Lightbulb and a battery built in to illuminate them ( or just the battery to power a Bioluminescent chemical 'light' ). Funny would be : Seeing a clerk turn off the glowey bottles when closing their store for the night.
SO be ready to find some OLD DULL DARK looking ADAM Product bottles laying about, ... past their 'expiration date'.
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Suchong (Audio Diary BS1 "Mozart of Genetics" : "That's quite a little monster Fontaine's dug up. When she does speak, which is almost never, her accent is thick and grating. Her hair is filthy and she seems to wear the same mustard-stained jumper day after day. But I've got to hand it to Frank: Tenenbaum is the all-time diamond in the rough. No formal training, no experience... but put her in front of a gene sequence, and she's Mozart at the harpsichord."
How does one LOOK at a 'Gene Sequence' ???? ( Mozart Composed, not just Played )
 "Gene Sequencer" (Real World) :
Lets presuppose DNA Helix structure being understood sufficiently for use in Rapture (DNA's structure wasn't Real World positively discovered/confirmed until 1953). But that is just the very start, beyond Gregor Mendel's (1860s) identifying a mechanism for genetic patterns.
A Mid-70s (Real World) "Gene Sequencer" technology was used to READ subsets of nucleotide sequences of DNA fragments ( automated machines doing this came in the mid-1980s ). It allowed comparing different peoples DNA.
The Method uses fluorescent markers ( molecules which glow/fluoresce under a certain light spectrum ) tied to nucleotides applied to a "template" section of the genes. A 'Lysing' pattern agent, is used to cutup thousands of the same DNA helixes at a known sequence point ( creating precisely split sections/sequences of the DNA helix ). The resulting DNA sections/fragments vary by size of molecule, which are can be sorted/accumulated by size and are statistically 'read' via optical sensor. 
This technique generally works only on DNA sections upto 80 base-pairs. It really did not indicate exactly what was in those sequences, just differences in the pieces resulting from a very specific Lysing point. As many additional 'Lysing' type patterns were found, then the identification of more pattern groups became more discernible. Cross-referencing ( assisted greatly by computerizing the data ) then gave greater resolution when comparing different people's DNA. Later more sophisticated use of this method allowed ACTUAL base-pair/nucleotide sequences to be known. 
Recombinant DNA :
Advancements of the 'Lysing' mechanism is also used to separate/manipulate desired Gene sequences. 
You chop a section of DNA out of an existing cell's DNA ( via SPECIALIZED "Lysing" agent chemicals which cut the DNA chain at VERY specific patterned points in the sequence ), and then replacing it with a NEW chunk into a similar gap (similarly 'lysed') in another cells DNA. That had been done experimentally in the laboratory. Inserting it into a body (Gene Therapy) was a much much later achievement. 
Gene Synthesis :
This is WRITING/CREATING your own NEW DNA sequences from scratch. This was developed much later (2010). This could be done to create very specific nucleotide (base pair) sequences to make genes to insert into DNA to the propogate within an organism ( ex- via a retrovirus ) . It presupposes that you KNOW what nucleotide sequence you want to replace and WHAT WITH --- this is a whole 'nuther VERY complex problem/effort. 
Reality :
In the Real World these technologies have been developed through the efforts of many many thousand of scientists/engineers/developers who had put in decades of work ( with billions of US dollars of resources ), and achieved ONLY after a long series of incremental improvements.
Shortcuts :
In Rapture, the game's ADAM-enabled genetic manipulations ( required for Tonics/Plasmids ) would require taking some serious technical shortcuts to make it happen in the span of only a few years. Suchong's : "ADAM is the Canvas" ( Stem Cell Regression enabling easier tissue modification ). BUT you still had to CREATE some genetic 'plasmids' ( new genetic patterns ) which actually CHANGE the targets genetics for the more complicated Plasmids/Tonics. 
Here we might insert into our Story some previous (and voluminous) 'secret' Nazi (or other governments') research to help increase the development timespan and efforts/achievements made. Use of previously existing (known) gene sequences, and their function in Humans, would be very important and time saving. Likewise, for the techniques used to achieve that previous research. 
(( A few more Nazis in Rapture's mix would be logical to facilitate this ))
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Simplifying The Problem Somewhat :
Use of Non-genetically executed LOCAL application-control/gene-activation ( of ADAM Plasmids/Tonics ) in the body can GREATLY assist in simplifying the needed actions to make the required tissue modifications/Tissue change(s).
Easier also would be : to maximize use of the body's existing DNA to ONLY adjust/rebuild native tissue ( triggering it differently instead of changing the DNA ).
The 'Just Drink It' (fully automatic general process, ie- drinking the Plasmid and it modifying a hand), is FAR more complex to make happen, and the story of such needs to be deflected in the MMORPG.
Having anything like this be INSTANT is Fantasy and definitely needs revision.
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ADAM Use on Animals ? :
(Mentioned in Multiplayer backstory was Cats using someone's ADAM stash - due to the 'addictive' thing ). 
SO for Doggies( and Cats/Vermin), it probably would work - with Doggy DNA Plasmid/Tonic components, though only after a whole lot of Canine R&D development for that to be made for specific CANINE effects/abilities -- That beyond simpler medical/healing type uses - Which would be alot of work by itself).
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Alleged ADAM Use On Plants ? : 
Dr Langford's Franken Trees mentioned in BS1 may NOT be ADAM related. Being plants, they are significantly different genetically. ADAM was unknown and came along later, and Rapture needed Oxygen recycling from its start. The "Franken Trees" may be an outgrowth of general advancements in genetic manipulation/cross breeding ( You need more than reversion to stem cells to do what Plasmid/Tonics are shown to change ). It may also be a skilled selection of EXISTING surface world terrestrial plants to fit Raptures need for improved Oxygen Production (as there would be for food plants).
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There's an Interesting Thought : Genetically Altered Potatoes to Generate ADAM (... Why Not ?) :
: Zero-Level - TOO MUCH ADAM - No Fake Shortages for the Plot.
: First Issue - massive/incompatible genetic changes can be VERY difficult.  Dissimilar base genetics (across animal-plant difference) require too many changes.  Not enough development time ( not a problem Later in Infinite BS ) - so just menytion as somebody's 'proposal' .
: Second - Mixing a plant with animal genes in particular ( in the Real World it is usually limited to generation of a single chemical, and that change most often being inserted into a bacteria ( OK, so bacteria genetically engineered to produce ADAM ??  Except that ADAM is a much more complex material/set of chemicals to produce OR they (in Rapture) would FIRST simply be Synthesizing it ).
: BTW - directly synthesizing complex Biologicals is even today often not possible, and in other cases too expensive/impractical ( Why they go the genetic path - if it IS possible ).
: EVE likely was a much simpler chemical (or combination of chemicals), and it is possible some amateur horticulturists were working on plants that generated EVE. ( Note in-game NO 'EVE Shortage' was ever mentioned. )
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Finally - New and Improved Plasmids/Tonics Came in Orally Applied Form ( and less popular Suppository form  maybe ... ) :
Many people don't like needles (especially ones the size of knitting needles) and more would not want to do the injections themselves.   Maybe addicted Splicers don't care, but these were meant to be consumer items for less enthusiastic users ( Ryan/Sinclair would capitalize on that to push their versions, if [Fontaine]] did not )
Ditto for 'Eve', which actually would be 'applied' far more frequently.
Unfortunately, 'Going through your Digestive Tract' is a very inefficient delivery mechanism. ADAM isn't a simple chemical like Penicillin is ( Penicillin wasn't give orally for decades due to the difficulty and early expense/limited-supply ). 
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People Fear Needles and Those Drinkable Plasmids Taste So Nasty ... :
"Easysplice" Plasmid - a nice self-sealing inlet valve 'growth' which forms on your arm or select other body parts, with integral air trap filter for convenience and safety  ( Air Bubble Embolism Tonic and/or a Emergency Trip to the Vita-Chamber isn't a trivial expense ).
Afraid of needles ?  Worry no longer.  Taking your ADAM/EVE is as easy as plugging into a wall socket.
Available NOW at the your local New City Pharmacy -  A Ryan Industries Product.
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NEW AND IMPROVED !!! :
Roll-on and Handy Wipes for ADAM dispensing ( none of those painful needles, OR vile-tasting and tummy distressing 'Drinkables' ).
A later feature for ADAM Products should have been a 'Heal' for the knitting-needle sized hole you put into your body with the injector needles ( and maybe a built-in anesthetic as well ).
Likely there WOULD be topical application for a component part of a 'Plasmid', which affected a certain part of the body ( ie- How does the Plasmid knows which hand to grow the *whatzit* on to shoot the *whatever* ? ).
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Possibly NOT the Best Source Of ADAM :
An unsavory source of recycled ADAM (and ADAM byproducts) - Sewage Recovery. The person who made the suggestion was probably told 'to go try it' if they really really wanted it to be done. The idea might have interested Sinclair, with his "Profits Coming, Profits Going" business philosophy, and his many successful 'niche' opportunities .
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Ongoing ADAM Research (In BS2 Times) :
* Gil Alexander was still running ADAM related research as late as 1967 ( Big Sister conversions/conditioning for a long while before that ).
* Sofia Lamb had (some) technicians capable of converting/conditioning Sinclair to a Big Daddy (Alpha) rather rapidly (in the game the perception of time is a bit distorted).
* The New Little Sisters were created and 'Harvesting' like good little ghouls around that time also, and the ADAM was being made use of.
* Sofia Lamb was allegedly ( as recounted by Stanley Poole/Eleanor ) able to extract memory information from the ADAM collected from corpses. ITS 'Not Clear' how that worked - possibly on infusing Gilbert Alexander with them, he could recount the memories (or Lamb had other more 'disposable' test subjects 'subjected' to the memory ADAM before being 'recycled' in their turn.)
* You would have thought Lamb would have recycled Alexander's huge quantity of ADAM, or maybe she was saving that to apply to Eleanor later.
* Minervas Den produced bio-electrical technologies ( Reed Wahl and his staff at least made use of McClendon's work ) and Wahl probably kept producing and adding new bio-circuitry to 'The Thinker', in his attempts to achieve HIS delusional goal.
* Who knows what-all ADAM-research was done in other parts of the City ( by other Factions ) since Ryan died.
* New types of Plasmids and Tonics were available in BS2 that weren't available in BS1 years earlier.
* Did Sofia Lamb use some special types of tonics to turn large numbers of people into will-less 'self-less', consciousness-less workers ( to slave-away in the farms )?? Perhaps she was working on a way to extract their 'genius' (or psychosis) via ADAM exposure & removal and still leave them as usable slave bodies ( ...'real' brainwashing ??? )
* Eleanor probably dabbled in aspects ADAM tech in her attempts to reconstitute Delta ( hacking the Vita-Chamber and probably other things ).
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An Obvious Solution that Would Have Changed the BioShock Game :
1) Fact : Advanced Genetic Engineering was done in Rapture
2) Complex genetic manipulation was researched to modify humans (a complex organism) via Tonics and Plasmids
3) Sea Slugs were not producing enough ADAM ( warranting weirdness like kidnapping little girls to turn them into Lil Vampire Freaks )
SO WHY NOT apply the know-how/techniques/tools/etc ... then available for Improving the Sea Slug's ADAM output  ( and not just by 20-30 times, but maybe lots more than that !! ) -- All within the Sea Slugs themselves.
HAVE Rapture's biologists figure out what the symbiotic relation is between LS and SS, and genetically make it happen within the Sea Slug itself, or alternately magnify it in the LS.
Suddenly, the Brain Boost (mind-enhancement) Plasmid allows greater/further advancements which allow SYNTHESIZING the ADAM chemicals involved, or mass culturing of 'Stem Cells' ( which BTW is NOT really what ADAM was, but COULD be done externally for applying to the human's body "Adult Stem-cell" ( Culturing the patient's own Stem-cell tissue ) - IS the only practical solution for real 'Stem Cell' Technology. The Embryo-based method has gotten virtually nowhere in the Real World. )
SO, Why Not just make sufficient changes to domesticate them so the Sea Slugs can 'multiply like rabbits' ???
Rapture would be a very different place ?  Insanity happening even faster, with even more massive ADAM use ?   No monopoly for Fontaine ??   More Brain Boost resulting in LESS bad-side-effect-producing ADAM ????????? THESE Would torpedo the games plot ... 
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(REAL) Polymerase Chain Reaction :
Process used to repeatedly copy DNA ( which then can be used to generate RNA ). The activation of DNA/RNA replication ( unzipping double helix to form/build its complimentary half molecule ). You do not need the full DNA/RNA molecule to do the replication of the proteins required for specific tasks.
Useful in various ADAM related operations where particular genetic patterns need to be massively replicated ( the RNA used to guide Plasmid/Tonic 'feature' placement in a body, or the repairs of medical/cosmetic treatments ).
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Keep It Simple Stupid - ADAM Genetic Tech :
As for the Science involved even being capable of such things - keeping it simple helps.  I don't recall in the Book that they had many other poly-Splicers which like YOU ( Jack/Delta/Sigma and a few bosses ) are seen in Rapture.  They mostly were only one/a-few Plasmids per individual ( multiple Plasmids/Tonics would likely interfere with each other with the modifications/changes/stress they make to your body ), so it costs more to technically accommodate it or to suffer long term results ( which the Player wasn't around long enough for ). 
And that Presto-Chango immediate switching of our 'equipped' Plasmid in the game ( a game player-action facilitating aspect ) would require almost instant major structural/physiological body changes, and THAT being done repeatedly ( hand going Fire to Ice to Lightning bolt, etc... done quite rapidly for US ).   Tissue really cannot change that fast structurally ( even with changes via genetics being possible ).
The massive genetic changes to build the physical structures in your body for these various effects is a bit hard to put into a bottle and inject and take effect in seconds.  The process could likely use a very sophisticated time delay of separate components introduced to your blood for the different phases of the 'treatment' ( time delay encapsulation like many medicines have )  - A progression changing a multitude of genes, then waiting for the targeted tissues to change before the next incremental change, etc ...
The unrealistic rapidity was added for game play purposes, and some adjustment would be allowable for the MMORPG.
The ADAM itself does not have to be (shouldn't be) Stem-Cells, instead the Sea Slug-originated-chemical would cause your body to make Stem-Cells rapidly ( that already do match YOUR genetics ). Those are then changed using the the specific Plasmid's genetic components which guide the modifications for specific tissues at specific locations ( injecting some of those Plasmids juices into the actual arm/hand where the Flame/Ice/Electricity shoots out of might help localize the concoction to make the structural changes (certainly speed it up).  ( Heh - Bizarre possibility if you accidentally get an injection in the butt ... Save that for the "MMORPG Bloopers Reel". )
Other places in my 'Wall of Text Xtreme Blog', I mention that many of the 'physically' impossible things Plasmids are shown to do are actually really something else : the throwing Electricity is actually projecting charged plasma gas ( like ball lightning ) instead of an electric current that cannot flow thru air normally, or (maybe better) it is like a Taser with small projected darts and organic tissue 'wires' to do the conducting, and an Electric Eel-like voltage generator in the Splicers body.  The Ice thing is something else ( generating Cryogenic Gas/Liquid is much harder than spraying a combustible fluid that ignites on the way to the target ). Is it really a Super-chilled liquid ( How exactly does human tissue make that?) or is it a mass of insta-super-glue ( a whole hell of a lot plausible/workable ) ???  
Many of the other Plasmid effects rely on some 'Psi' Psi - short for Psionic - See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psionics effects, which are still pretty borderline EXCEPT that if I can (in real life) bombard parts of your brain with microwaves/high frequency sound correctly, or even flash lights in your eyes (epileptic effect), it can have a REAL effect in Disrupting your brain ... Meaning that some biological/physiological way of generating/projecting those effects is at least a possibility -- Sci-Fi and not Magic/Fantasy...  ie- being 'Frozen' because you are paralyzed ... 
"Teleportation" then may only really be the Houdini 'clouding your mind', and then walking to its new place while you are distracted ... ( note the puff of smoke and a bell ringing ) ??  
"Telekinesis" is greater strength to throw something, after using the mind clouding so you don't see the guy simply walk/climb over to pick the thing up and carry it back, or throw it somewhere ( OR (hmm) some sticky 'Spidey Silk' mechanism to physically pull the item from a distance ??? )    
Even the 'Insect Swarm' Plasmid may be a mind-clouding/mental attack, combined flinging tiny exploding spitballs full of hallucinogens/nerve poisons or better -- Thus induced spasms in the target which do all the damage, instead of anything insect-like things actually near them. 
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Potential Frankenstein's in Rapture :   ( That is pronounced "Frank-en-steen"From "Young Frankenstein" movie ... )
"Frankenstein" was the name of the creator - and you NEED the creator before you get the "Frankenstein's Monster".   Genetic research became a popular and profitable Technology in Rapture, and there were many who learned the techniques ( and some, who didn't quite learn correctly ).   With the insanity in the City, and all the years to develop interesting things, there would be many a 'Monster' or other surprising 'mad scientist' products for the games adventurers to encounter  ( even 'dabblers' can turn up something pretty awful/creepy/weird ) ...
* A thing with "the Body of a Crab and the Head of an Insurance Salesman"  (Movie "Sleeper" reference)
* Creepy Vermin of all kinds, as well as amorphous blobs hiding here and there.
* Odd diseases
* Freakish 'experimental' Plasmids and Gene Tonics in use ( or sitting unused after it destroyed its creator )
* Weird Plants are always fun to have to encounter ( some may even be quite tasty ).
* Yet more 'Borgy' goodness with ADAM tech and mechanical strangeness combined. ( We never got the story about Wahl's 'implants' ? ) .... Nano-Shock
* Lots of opportunities for Player Asset Creators to create things ( and if all else fails and its just too weird or too un-loree/un-canon then could be employed in those weird Splicer dreams ).
* Heh, even recorded video of some of the 'experiments' done in Fontaine Futuristics before they knew what they were doing.
* 'Jacobs Ladders' and 'Van de Graaff' generators ( big spark/arc producing machines ) always make for nice special effects.
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An Explanation as to Why some Tonics are Drunk Like Vigors Instead of Injected Like in the Original BioShock :
Its called "many people just don't like needles" ( particularly ones the size of knitting needles ), and even have a phobia concerning them.  Second, people have even more trouble injecting themselves using needles.  So for ADAM products to have been 'Consumerized' (as much as shown), it would be logical for some orally taken delivery mechanism (liquid/pills) to be developed for Consumers to self-administer them ( Suppositories we won't get into ... )
Inhalers probably wouldn't deliver enough volume ( and absorption issues ... ).  High pressure 'Jet' injectors also might not handle the required volume (and are overly complex for personal use).
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Drinkable ADAM Products (Already Existed Before the Infinite BS DLC Claptrap) :
Transporting the genetic 'conversion' ingredients is a matter of encapsulation and transference into the recipients body ( via the digestive tract with all its potentially destructive chemical processes instead of directly into the blood stream or even placement into the tissues where the Plasmid is desired to form - in the forearm frequently ).  That should NOT require changing the Plasmid's genetic patterning ,which is quite specific in order to work to make it do something differently.
Nothing says that there weren't also Houdini Teleport, Incinerate! and Winter Blast in drinkable form  ( thought IF they took 10 X the ADAM they would be at a premium cost affordable by many FEWER people ).
If that issue is real ( I discount ALOT of Canon-Breaking stuff in the DLC) it still doesn't mean that  the problem was solved later (by the time BS1 happens ... ) 
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Create Your Own Plasmid ? :
Alot of programming work possibly to implement a flexible Plasmid/Tonic system for the game. ( G.U.R.P.S.G.U.R.P.S. - http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/ For Plasmids ? ) This could be done using Asset Templates, and the Game's Modular mechanisms, with an addition of a way to attribute (the varieties and options) sufficiently to control the game mechanics ( Server and Client ) for the new Plasmid's (or Tonic's) effect/affect/operation. 
Yes, YOU CAN have that *Fart Gun* you always thought should be in the game ... ( though the Genre/Canon Police might not let you have it except as some 'Splicer' weirdness - just a funny name for a valid mechanism that sprays some noxious substance ... ) 
Mac : "OK Bobo, let em have it with the Fartgun !!!" ...
Enemy : Gaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhn !!
After a while the Plasmids will start being largely recombinations of the same game-existing things :
* Projecting damage specific/area projectile/beam
* Applying a environmental effect (ie- fire) to an object
* Applying an impairment to the target mental/physical/sensory
* Side-effects of existing elementals type effects
With varying magnitudes/variances/malfunctions of affect. They may vary most in the sound/light/particle effects they generate on loading/firing and the projection and the results on the target(s) - irrelevantly substituted visual effect.
Funny Names of course -- at least we don't need those weird Vigor bottle things ( where it seemed they put more effort into the bottle than the actual game operation of the Vigor ). Real life bottles were pretty plain - a waste of expense on a general consumer product ( which Infinite's Vigors/Tonics were SUPPOSED TO BE, but weren't much used (or priced) that way in the game ).
Old-school products would need/have their demo/use/advertisement visual ( and whatever passes for that same function post-Ryan. )
Again, figure that many of the Original Plasmids WERE NOT exactly what they claim to be -- using trickery and mental distortion (both user and targets) and substitution to carry out their apparent affects. That would be a second component to the potential 'New Plasmid' creation.
Note also - that there were many simpler genetic products that weren't as 'Splashy' as the Civil Wars Combat Plasmids ( 2/3rds of all of the ADAM Products likely were medical applications/therapies working to repair conditions/damage and remove diseases/afflictions ). The bulk of the rest were useful things (tools/optimizers), or cosmetic/gimmick things. The Combat Plasmids actually would be few. Why waste research/resources/delays, when the basic types were developed ( except for some incremental magnitude enhancements ) and at the time combat use was being a rushed project. Consumer products would normally get stabilization or 'user friendly' enhancements.
Combination mixing might also be a game mechanism, although Players themselves are supposed to have limited ADAM use (being Ex-Splicers). But the NPC Splicers can make use of such things freely.
Ethics Free Experimentation - just grab a Splicer and do a few tests of your new formula ?
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To some extent New "Create Your Own Weapons" could also be done ( alot of the same game internal things would be used for them also ). Kludgy looking apparatus would be expected, based usually on the same old original weapon platform ( existing guns, chemical thrower, grenade projector ).
The Fabrication mechanism already detailed would play into this.
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Another Idea - a 'Fabrication' system for the game's Genetic Research. Unfortunately the reality is outside of most people experience ( all that teeny squishy bio stuff ), but some level of caricaturization for visualization processes ( related to the simplified mechanics of 'Machinery' game stuff or the Chemical process expected for the original 'Fabrication' game component ).
Some similar game mechanism would be in the 'Head Shrinker' (psychological/physiological) aspect of the "Cure" Process, which the Player could be able to participate in.
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How Exactly DO You Get the Sea Slug and Its SO Tasty-tasty ADAM Out of a Little Sister ? :
* Need one of those Infinite/BaS 'chalkboards' explaining it ...
* Or an Atlas produced "Need To Know" Kinetoscope thing (for the Splicers).
* First you need some Green Mist ... and then a Pair of Pliers ...
* Its also NOT exactly clear how the Little Sisters GIVE you ADAM when you 'Save' them either ... ( 'puking it up' would not be amusing after the third time ).
The MMORPG can fall back on simple vomiting ( since the 'LS killing' option is off the table ) shown in old Fontaine Futuristsics research films ( and Roleplaying - Flashbacks ).
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ADAM Marketing 101 :
It is rather 'off-putting' when active Plasmids often have the appearance of maggots living under your skin.  So alot of work to make presentable commercial products would have been done in the ADAM industry to make the 'installed' tissue effects themselves look better cosmetically. The hands are where most changes were 'installed' for many Combat/Tool Plasmids.    Come to think of it, big injection holes with discolorations aren't all that aesthetic either.
Perhaps there might have started a new 'Fad' demand for gloves in Rapture happening around this early time.  Gloves might be an interesting apparel item for the MMORPG ( and Flashbacks can show various people wearing them to try to hide their hand disfigurements ).
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Simpler Plasmids/Tonic Might Last Longer Without Degradation :
A way to explain why some Splicers in the MMORPG might still have their genetic Modes when most ADAM products had no been manufactured for years.
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A Little Help to Get Those Plasmid Thingees to Work ... :
Nothing says that Splicers (ADAM users) don't use hybrid abilities ( a combination of ADAM abilities and technological things ), and it is wrong that "it cannot be done" as part of their MMORPG behavior.
The Splicers still in Rapture would be the ones that survived all that time, and ADAM goodies aren't as plentiful as they once were.
Example - Thumb Lighter to light something on fire ( a simpler pre-Combat Plasmid ability which existed ), and then throw it by hand at some target (like YOU). Molotov Cocktail ... A Splicer using the old 'Zippo' lighter finger to touch off an oil pool ... ( "Lemme Give You A Light, Old Sport !!!" ) The "finger' might work when a damp match doesn't ( or when Zippo-type flints get rather scarce ).
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