Archive

Damien Archbold

17 October 2024
danwchan
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What was your first experience in biotechnology?

Medical school, minimal experience since

What do you want others to know about your current project(s)?

Interested in democratizing science, community organizations, currently working as a medical doctor

How does Biotech Without Borders help you with your goals?

Learning about distributed decision making in a scientific environment, meeting like-minded individuals

How do you imagine/see biotechnology improving the lives of all on this planet?

Rapidly growing applications in materials engineering, climate change mitigation tools, medicine and healing

Outside of biotech, what’s something you find fun?

Acrobatic yoga

Alec Stein

17 October 2024
danwchan
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How does Biotech Without Borders help you with your goals?

I’m just a curious guy

How do you imagine/see biotechnology improving the lives of all on this planet?

Immortality

Outside of biotech, what’s something you find fun?

Rock climbing

Matt Kantorski

12 October 2023
danwchan
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What was your first experience in biotechnology?

My first experience in biotechnology was in school! I remember being in disbelief that it’s possible to isolate specific stretches of DNA, then recombine those DNA fragments to form a new DNA fragment. Once one realizes that this, in theory, can be accomplished with any stretch of DNA from any species, the possibilities presented by biotechnology become very profound.

What do you want others to know about your current project(s)?

At the moment, I’m using biotechnological methods to research the immune systems of bats. Bats have been observed to contract viruses considered lethal to other mammals, yet they show no signs of illness. How bats are capable of this is not understood. Using biotechnological techniques, I’ve been able to sequence the immune genes of bats to better understand their immune response.

How does Biotech Without Borders help you with your goals?

BwoB provides the facilities, equipment, and scientific community to make research possible for anyone who wishes to answer a scientific question. Beyond the lessons learned in my internship, BwoB provided me with a space to spread my wings and truly experiment. Having the opportunity to test my own curiosities without the rigidity of an academic or industrial lab has been essential to my development as a biotechnologist.

How do you imagine/see biotechnology improving the lives of all on this planet?

We can already thank biotechnology for the development of bread, cheese, and beer – this certainly has improved the lives of all on the planet. Beyond food and drink, I think the most exciting advances in biotechnology include gene editing technology. This of course must be approached with caution because, if abused, gene editing can create bioethical dilemmas. If used responsibly, gene editing technologies could create a whole new world of therapeutic approaches to genetic conditions. This will undoubtedly advance the biomedical field, improving the lives of all on the planet.

Outside of biotech, what’s something you find fun?

Outside of Biotech, I’m an active musician and performer in New York City! Most of my music work is on Broadway and playing with the orchestras of Lincoln Center. I’ve found that the creativity and attention to detail needed for music is very compatible with science – the two fields complement each other very nicely.

Jen Liu

14 September 2023
danwchan
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Jen Liu is a New York-based visual artist working in video, painting, choreographic performance, and biomaterial, on diasporic Asian identities, postcolonial economies, speculative feminism, and the re-motivating of archival artifacts. She is a recipient of the Creative Capital Grant, the LACMA Art + Technology Lab grant, the Guggenheim Fellowship in Film/Video, the \Art Award from Cornel Tech, the NYSCA/NYFA Fellowship in Digital/Electronic Art, the Pollock-Krasner Award, and is a 2022 recipient of the Hewlett 50 Arts Commission. She has presented work at MoMA, The Whitney Museum, and The New Museum, New York; Royal Academy and ICA in London; Kunsthaus Zurich; AdK and KW, Berlin; Kunsthalle Wien; the Aspen Museum of Art; Henry Art Gallery, Seattle; MUSAC, Leon; the Times Museum Guangzhou, and the Shanghai Biennale, Singapore Biennial, and Taipei Biennial. She has also received multiple grants and residencies, including Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany; Para Site, Hong Kong; Surf Point, Maine; Pioneer Works, ISCP and LMCC in New York; Sommerakademie, Bern, Switzerland; and de ateliers, Amsterdam, NL.

Where are you currently based? (City, Country)

Staten Island

What was your first experience in biotechnology?

With BWOB!

What do you want others to know about your current project(s)?

It’s an art project.

How does Biotech Without Borders help you with your goals?

By offering lab access, it’s huge!

How do you imagine/see biotechnology improving the lives of all on this planet?

I believe grassroots access to biotech knowledge and tools with help balance the top-heavy investments in biotech today, with skews the field.

Outside of biotech, what’s something you find fun?

Running.

Sumeyye Yar

14 September 2023
danwchan
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Sumeyye Yar is a molecular biologist and science educator dedicated to interdisciplinary integration. She finds herself at the crossroads of biology, art, and design, serving as a scientific consultant for bioartists and biodesigners. After completing her Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, Sumeyye continued her research journey at Northwestern University as a postdoctoral researcher for three years, contributing to scientific publications and presentations. Her educational experiences span from Northwestern University to the community labs of the Waag Society in the Netherlands and later to Genspace in New York. Motivated by a genuine interest in bridging the gaps between traditional scientific disciplines, Sumeyye incorporates aspects of science, design, and art into her teaching approach. She has designed interactive science programs for K-12 students and citizen scientists alike. Among her acknowledgments is the Educational Public Outreach Grant from The Center for Science and Society at Columbia University. In all her efforts, Sumeyye remains committed to ensuring that scientific knowledge is accessible and relatable to all.

What was your first experience in biotechnology?

College lab

What do you want others to know about your current project(s)?

BioArt project to use DNA as a data carrier

How does Biotech Without Borders help you with your goals?

Lab space & community

How do you imagine/see biotechnology improving the lives of all on this planet?

By providing environmentally friendly solutions to the most of our needs

Outside of biotech, what’s something you find fun?

Playing with my kiddo

Danny Chan

20 January 2020
danwchan
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Danny Chan received his MSc in microbiology during the course of his PhD candidacy at the University of Chicago studying the interaction of methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) with lab-grown skin in an a department focused on infectious disease. However, he was haunted by the lack of explicit intellectual work to contextualize the curiosity-based approach to research he loves with the perpetuation of global inequity by leading research institutions. He has been a Research Technician for many years in multiple fields including cellulostic ethanol production, protein crystallography, prefrontal cortex development, and heat shock proteins. Later, he worked as a Medical Editor fact-checking and editing for pharmaceutical advertisers. He seeks to apply his skills and knowledge of science and industry with compassionate sensibilities in order to foster new institutions that empower folks with the tools of biotech so we can meet the challenges of our damaged world. Currently, he freelances, organizes with various autonomous collectives, teaches, and pursues independent research centered around protocol development for the DIY science community.

If you want to chat please book an appointment here.

What was your first experience in biotechnology?

2nd year of University I got hired as part of my co-op program into a fermentation lab at Iogen in Ottawa, Canada working on cellulostic ethanol fermentation. There I supported the engineers on the pilot plant by running their samples on a HPLC, weighing yeast, and testing the effects of different sugars on different yeast metabolism.

Where are you currently based?

Queens, NYC

What do you want others to know about your current project(s)?

I want people to imagine their kombucha or sourdough cultures (or the cultures of their friends) fermenting a common waste product and produced something useful around the house like window cleaner. This is the biotechnology I want to help create.

How does Biotech Without Borders help you with your goals?

It gives me access to an affordable lab space I can tinker in and a community I can help shape into the cooperative unit I want to see in the world.

How do you imagine/see biotechnology improving the lives of all on this planet?

By providing a technological framework that allows biologically relevant molecules to be produced in a distributed fashion thereby helping close the gap between the owners of the means of production and the workers.

Outside of biotech, what’s something you find fun?

Playing Magic the Gathering, but without buying any cards. Telling collaborative stories via a tabletop RPG. Eating and making good food.

Ellen Jorgensen

20 January 2020
danwchan
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Dr. Jorgensen is passionate about increasing science literacy in both student and adult populations, particularly in the areas of molecular and synthetic biology. She cofounded and directed the community lab Genspace in Brooklyn NY where she initiated an award-winning curriculum of informal science education for adults and students in biotechnology and synthetic biology. Under her leadership, Genspace was named one of the World’s Top 10 Innovative Companies in Education by Fast Company magazine. Her efforts to develop innovative ways to support citizen participation in science have been chronicled by Science, Discover Magazine, Wired, Make, BBC News, Nature Medicine, Dan Rather Reports, PBS News Hour, The Discovery Channel, and The New York Times. She holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from New York University, spent many years in the biotechnology industry, and is currently adjunct faculty at The Cooper Union. Dr. Jorgensen’s two TED talks (Biohacking: You Can Do It Too and What You Need To Know About CRISPR) have received over two million views. In 2017, Fast Company magazine named her one of their Most Creative Leaders in Business.

Where are you currently based?

South Salem NY USA

What was your first experience in biotechnology?

Lab internship at age 19

What do you want others to know about your current project(s)?

I am invested in securing the continued operation of the physical lab space.

How does Biotech Without Borders help you with your goals?

It is a platform to share my knowledge and be inspired by others

How do you imagine/see biotechnology improving the lives of all on this planet?

In some cases it is the most environmentally-friendly solution to major problems like climate change. For instance, it can help shield the food supply from increased pathogens, drought etc. caused by global warming. It can also provide carbon capture solutions.

Outside of biotech, what’s something you find fun?

Hiking in wild and untouched areas.