Biomakespace Cambridge is a new laboratory with a difference - it is open to anyone who is keen to work at the interface of biology and engineering. Based on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, the laboratory is accepting new membership applications from March 2018.
The Biomakespace community is focused on curiosity-driven research, as well as offering training workshops, hack-a-thons, talks, socials and public engagement activities. It is part of a global movement in community biotechnology and is particularly focused on synthetic biology, which has a range of commercial applications and is using the cutting edge of modern genetic engineering techniques.
Collaboration is at the heart of Biomakespace, with a focus on team projects, skill-sharing and building a supportive community. Jenny Molloy, a co-founder and director explained that this is why Biomakespace keeps their membership low cost: “We want to build an inclusive community that is accessible to people who are interested in biology but wouldn’t typically have access to research facilities.”
The space has already proved popular with students, professional scientists and local companies, and several scientific projects are planned. Over ten members of the Cambridge University Synthetic Biology Student Society (CUSBS), are running a student-led project creating 'bacterial photography'. In another project, biologists,electronic and software engineers are collaborating on a ‘Plug ‘n’ Play’ introduction to engineering logic circuits using DNA. Any Biomakespace member is welcome to submit a research project for consideration, which is transparently assessed by an experienced biosafety committee using the highest safety and ethical standards.
Professor Andy Neely, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Enterprise and Business Relations at the University of Cambridge recently highlighted that Cambridge is continuously strengthening its world-leading entrepreneurial ecosystem by filling perceived gaps and needs from its stakeholders. And according to Andy Neely "Biomakespace is doing just that. We welcome this community initiative which will provide pre-venture entrepreneurs and early-stage ventures with much needed prototyping space. I look forward to watching Biomakespace develop their contribution to the Cambridge entrepreneurial ecosystem.”
Financial support has been provided by donations from founder members, and local companies including ARM, eLife and Elpis Biomed Donations; the team are now fundraising to add more equipment to their prototyping workshop and to support future projects in the space.The Biomakespace team were also finalists in the WeWork Creator Award in 2017, gaining international attention by making it to the last 15 of 1700 entrants and pitching live on-stage at a star-studded event in London, and intend to continue pursuing competitive entrepreneurship grants in 2018.
If you would like to get involved, Biomakespace Cambridge are now accepting applications for membership at http://biomake.space. We are also seeking volunteers to join the team – please contact directors@biomake.space for more information on available roles.