TechHive: DIY biohackers play with bacteria at Genspace, a community science lab

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thumbnail DIY biohackers play with bacteria at Genspace, a community science lab
Aug 12th 2013, 18:00, by Kevin Lee

You don't need a professional-grade lab or a science degree to mess around with microorganisms. A small group of New York-based biotechnology enthusiasts have created their own community biology lab called Genspace, and it's a place where anyone who's even remotely interested in life sciences can go and get their feet wet with biotechnology.

DIY biologists mainly work from home on their own little cultured experiments. For the most part, this underground biohacking scene regularly communicates through the Web on the DIYbio forums to ask for advice and equipment, as well as  to set up in-person meetups. But a growing number of biohacking spaces, such as Genspace and Biocurious in the San Francisco Bay Area, give biohackers proper laboratories to work on their projects.

It's not impossible to assemble your own lab.

Genspace, located on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn, is the first and only community biolab in New York City. The lab is on the 7th floor of an old bank building: Once you step off the elevator, turn left, and you'll stumble into a scene that looks like your middle school's science department, except it's all grown up.

The main work room is a little grungy, between the mess of works-in-progress spread all over the table, the painted brick walls, and the exposed pipes hanging overhead. Beyond this room, however, is a small lab that's a completely different scene.

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