Does the membership specify that any the rights to any new
discoveries, made with their equipment and facilities, belong to
them in any way? What experimentation and material constraints
are in place as personal and public safety precautions?
I'd be interested in the classes and instructional materials. It
would be interesting to explore another discipline without the
prerequisite of an entire college program. Wouldn't the
Discovery Channel be interested in a partnership with this type of
operation?
I think every discipline should have a similar offering! I'd like to
see shared knowledge centers for medical research, electronics
engineering, and mechanical engineering, with an emphasis on
cross-discipline synergy.
DIY biotech lab opens in New York
January 3, 2011 | Length: 00:03:22
Science writer Dan Grushkin opened the nation's first community biotech laboratory. At GenSpace, biology enthusiasts pay a monthly membership to use the equipment and training facilities. Contributing editor Boonsri Dickinson talks to Grushkin and takes a tour of the lab.
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This is awesome!
Posted by jerang@...
22nd Apr 2011
Just
In
In
I agree
Posted by juliebuchanan2004+nlspromobox@...
22nd Apr 2011
Show:
+1
Vote
Legal issues?
Posted by Bit-Smacker
21st Jan 2011
-1
Votes
RE: DIY biotech lab opens in New York
To me, it's a bit scary. I'm a biochemist/"biotechnologist", and the possibilites of generating something that is toxic is very hight to untrained persons, especially if they just think it's "cool".
Posted by TwoHerbs
25th Jan 2011
+1
Vote
RE: DIY biotech lab opens in New York
How do you prevent accidents to prevent leakages of items from the lab into the outside world? How do you protect the public outside?
Posted by dbaechtel
4th Feb 2011
+1
Vote
This is awesome!
DIY biotech labs should be opened up everywhere in the States.
Posted by jerang@...
22nd Apr 2011
+1
Vote
I agree
DIY labs should be opened up everywhere!
Posted by juliebuchanan2004+nlspromobox@...
22nd Apr 2011
Transcript
MUSIC
>> Hi. My name is Daniel Grushkin. I'm one of the co-founders of GenSpace --
>> Mm-hmm.
>> -- which is the world's first community laboratory here in New York City -- Brooklyn, to be exact. And about two years ago, a group of us met in a coffee shop in New York City. And we all wanted to work on synthetic biology and do genetic engineering just like we had seen in what's called iGem, which is a students' synthetic biology competition. We first met in my house, and we did some very, very simple experiments. We transformed a bacteria. We basically took some bacteria, and we inserted a little gene that makes it glow green. We did that in my house. We reached out to the local FBI guy, and the reason was because we wanted to let them know what, the kind of work that we were doing, and we also wanted to let them know that there are a lot more people coming down the pipe that will be doing the same thing. And instead of raising hackles we wanted to engage them fright off the bat. And we did, and they have been incredibly supportive, actually. We're basically like a gym membership model. So if you wanted to work on an experiment -- you have this dying desire to do biology -- you come here, and you pay your monthly dues. Right now it's only a hundred dollars, not that I'm advertising. And every month you pay your hundred dollars, and you have access to this equipment and also to the inaudible. The other thing that is happening is that we do, run classes. So if you don't know anything about biology but you're really interested, it's not like you can come, you're going to come here and be left empty-handed. We have courses, and the courses start you off with a crash course on biotech, and then we move you up to a course on synthetic biology, which is basically genetic engineering, and we go from there. So hopefully by the end of all our coursework, you'll be able to do a basic genetic engineer -- you'll be able to engineer something new. Now, this is the first of its kind, but I know for a fact that there are others coming down the pipe. So San Francisco has a laboratory that should be coming online in the next couple of months that's again also a community laboratory, and they have a very similar structure. I know that there's groups popping up all over the world that are devoted to amateurs' working in biology. I know that there's one that just popped up in Los Angeles; there's one in Paris; there's one in Copenhagen. Boston, Baltimore -- those are just the ones that pop off, pop, pop out to me right now. And I just think it's going to keep on growing. Think Americans in general haven't had that passion or that attention to science in the way that it deserves. And I think that's coming back, and that's really exciting to me.
MUSIC
==== Transcribed by Automatic Sync Technologies ====