Ah, yes, a fellow Biologist! Also pleasing. My specialties are Developmental Biology and Genetics - I dabble in Electronics as well, and here I've even taken up teaching science for the younger crowd. Many opportunities to be found.
We recently discovered that the waypoints have existed since ancient times. As for how long they've been 'malfunctioning' and bringing in Outlanders from other worlds, looking back at past network entries and when the DOA was established - a couple of years, at least. And as for how long you will be stuck here, that is unfortunately difficult to predict. Some have been here years. Others, mere days.