Open Science Lab Inauguration in Carlsbad

Bio, Tech and Beyond has opened its doors in Carlsbad. The new facility is a hackerspace for do-it-yourself (DIY) scientists, engineers, and hobbyists. We have always been a strong supporter of the Open Science movement, as seen in our Open Science Challenges (in Tri-State region, Bay Area), Rare Disease Challenge, and CEO Kevin Lustig’s own involvement in founding Bio, Tech and Beyond.

If you’ve been tracking Bio, Tech and Beyond’s genesis, you’ll notice a few interesting facts:

• The city of Carlsbad has practically offered the land for free ($1/year)¹
• It joins a small handful of open science DIY laboratories worldwide. Other laboratories exist in New York, Sunnyvale, Los Angeles, Somersville, and Victoria (Canada).²
• Co-founder Joseph Jackson founded another biohacker lab before - BioCurious in Sunnyvale. CA
• Life Technologies has offered to donate reagents and supplies for the laboratory³

Bio, Tech and Beyond officially launched on July 12 to 350 attendees, including the Mayor of Carlsbad, a state senator, the entire Carlsbad City Council, and sci-fi author David Brin as keynote speaker. The opening attracted the attention of many public officials, who wanted to show their support to the “citizen scientists” who want to perform experiments in their free time. Bio, Tech and Beyond allows access to equipment, supplies, and other like-minded scientists, therefore enabling anyone to test out their ideas. Open science means that a grad student can test a new idea or an accountant can rekindle an old interest in biology. The laboratory hopes to offer public science classes and promote eight start ups in its first two years.

If you are an open science supporter and interested in donating to Bio, Tech and Beyond, you can visit their Indiegogo page to make a donation.