Links
Very incomplete. Please add to this!
Biohackerspaces
This is a very short and incomplete list. There is an overly complete, but not updated, list at DIYbiosphere and you can find the raw data here. There is also a list on diybio.org which probably isn't up to date either and you can always check out the hackerspaces.org wiki which lists a large percentage of all global hackerspaces, makerspaces, fablabs and similar.
- BioCurious - Santa Clara, CA, USA
- Large, well-equipped and long-running biohackerspace
- Experiment with friends!
- Counter Culture Labs - Oakland, CA, USA (Our space!)
- Events free. $80 per month. Sponsored free memberships available
- GaudiLabs - Lucerne, Switzerland
- GaudiLabs is now a for profit LLC that sells products. Everything is open source/hardware. Unclear if it is a private space or open to new members / drop-in visitors.
- HackteriaLab - Zürich, Switzerland
- The lab space is part of the Bitwäscherei hackerspace collective
- Kaouenn-Noz - Rennes, Brittany, France
Chats
- Maybe the most active biohacking chat?
- Chat and virtual meetup about open lab automation
- There is also a bridge from Discord but it doesn't seem to be perfect
- Intersection of biohacking and transhumanism
Online and in-person communities
- The oldest and probably biggest mailing list for biohacking. Not much traffic but a lot of people listening.
- Molecular biology forum. Not super active.
- A community and unconference around Open Science Hardware
- There are several regional GOSH groups such as AfricaOSH and reGOSH which covers Latin America and the Caribbean
- A global network of people, a wiki and a physical lab
- The physical lab is located in Zurich as part of the Bitwäscherei hackerspace collective.
- An online community focused on environmental community science
- An annual gathering of people working on biohacking and biohackerspaces
- An online platform where a bunch of community projects are hosted but appears offline as of this writing (February 2023)
Individual biohackers - Blogs, vlogs, tubers, etc.
- Abizar Lakdawalla on YouTube
- Instructions for DIY lab hardware, including electrophoresis box, tissue culture hood, heater block, and monochromator. Also lab hardware teardowns and repairs.
- ATinyGreenCell aka Sebastian S. Cocioba part of Binomica Labs
- A plant biohacker. Also does some bio hardware hacking. Very active on twitter
- Also has a mastodon account and a blog for his lab
- Periodically sells various open plasmids and other wetware. Previously on etsy (got banned), sometimes on twitter and sometimes here.
- Based in New York City
- CCL has a set of his chromoprotein strains as glycerol stocks (archived March 2023). Ask Marc Juul or Tim Dobbs.
- CommonPlace Lab's blog run by NaturePoker aka Sung won Lim
- Blog posts about sequencing, halophiles and opentrons
- Works with (part of?) Binomica Labs in New York City
- Also has a main website and github
- Some dude calling himself "DIY Biotech" has a YouTube channel
- Some interesting stuff but also published a video about NFTs :(
- Free molecular biology courses, open hardware and wetware designs, info on low-tech plasmid/strain storage, etc.
- Also has a YouTube channel
- Mostly focused on C. Elegans but has generally interesting stuff
- e.g. Using LEDs as a low cost source to detect GFP and DsRED
Protocols
- Protocols for DNA extractions, gel electrophoresis, PCR and sequencing
- Lots of protocols on cloning, PCR, phages, sequencing, freezing strains and more.
- Huge wiki with lots of protocols and info in general
Software
- Calculate Tm and other oligo properties
- The official release no longer runs or builds on modern systems so this is an unofficial update
Where to buy
Reagents, hardware, services, etc.
Hardware
- Brick Labware - Frisco, Texas, USA
- 3D printed labware. Mostly tube holders but a few other interesting things.
- Focused on teaching supplies. Stocks a bunch of basic equipment.
- Gaudi Labs Shop - Lucerne, Switzerland
- Open Electrowetting system (OpenDrop), Spectrophotometer (fiber, visible only), G-code to analog converter, all open hardware
- IO Rodeo - Pasadena, California, USA
- Open Hardware Colorimeter and Potentiostats
- The Odin - Austin, Texas, USA
- Nice selection of hardware, wetware and reagents. Ships to individuals. Banned from Germany (I think)
Services
Sequencing
- Whole plasmid or whole bacterial genome sequencing
- Whole plasmid starts at $15
- Whole genome starts at $90
- Free shipping if you drop at one of their drop boxes (there's one on Stanford's campus)
Plasmids and strains
- Vast library of plasmids
- Large collection of strains.
- Request up to 24 per year free of charge.
- Vast collection of strains.
- Intermittently sells open wetware plasmids and strains on etsy or twitter
- Made an open library of E. coli plasmids for making various colors
- Focused on teaching supplies and stocks a small selection of strains and plasmids
Reagents and consumables
These will be mostly US based businesses.
- Algae cultures and a few related reagents and consumables
- BioBasic - U.S. and Canada
- Very affordable. E.g. miniprep kits for under $1 per reaction
- Ebay seller. Loading dyes, ladder mixes, syringe filters
- Smaller selection than the larger companies but aimed toward small labs and affordable.
- Sells to anyone, though I believe they got banned from selling in Germany.
- Has a built-in comparison shopping tool with ordering.
- Used to be the go-to tool for Counter Culture Labs but started charging $100 per user per year for non-profits just for access
- Cheap but needs commercial address and sometimes requires more for some chemicals (even sometimes very safe ones).
Fabrication services
Lasercutting
Note that PCB manufacturing companies will sell metal solder paste stencils which might be usuable if only thin metal is required.
- Plastic, wood, rubber, leather, fabrics, cardboard, paper
- A bit pricey but local to Oakland
- Instant online quote generation
- oshcut - Metal only lasercutting
- Great choice of materials
- Up to 1" steel and aluminum! Some materials limited to about 0.13" thickness
- Affordable with instant quote generation