Changing the world costs money!
Help us to get Bio, Tech and Beyond, (BTnB) life sciences incubator and community innovation space, up and running. BTnB offers affordable lab space and scientific and business mentorship to help science pros and citizen scientists alike develop elegant solutions to costly problems. We will help start companies that change the world. But first we need you to help us get set up.
Who are we?
BTnB is an open innovation space dedicated to biology. We are a hybrid: part science educator, part biotech start up accelerator. BTnB is run by a group of DIY bio-entrepreneurs, educators, engineers, and scientists. We focus on innovative basic research and building an open science community.
Our Vision is to build a community lab where anyone can come to learn about and do science. We provide the basic infrastructure for participants to learn essential skills in molecular biology and to conduct experiments; with access to industry and academic experts for guidance in the expanding field of biotechnology.
What do we do?
We do three things:
1. Facilitate the formation of early biotech companies
Call it startup germination, call it startup incubation, call it startup facilitation. Whatever you call it, we work to lower the activation energy to starting a biotech company. It shouldn’t be so hard to turn brilliant ideas into viable businesses. We are here to make it easier by providing affordable lab space and access to industry expert mentorship. We give scientists and entrepreneurs a place to work, and the tools and knowledge needed to start a successful business.
2. Provide a home for citizen scientists
Scientific equipment can be prohibitively expensive. We provide access to shared equipment at a really low price (see our Membership Plans). We also provide scientific mentorship to help citizen scientists turn their big idea into reality.
3. Innovate science education
Why is DNA, the backbone of life, an enigma to most people? Why are high school students not being inspired to become scientists? Why do many college students have no access to lab space to complement their book learning?
We can’t answer those questions, but we can provide a solution to those problems. We run a series of workshops and seminars which make basic science fun eg ‘Use genetics to improve your home brew’, ‘Make flies glow’. We are also partnering with local colleges to offer wet lab space to their students.
Why do we need $50 000?
Setting up a lab is really expensive. We are extremely lucky to have scored a 6000 square foot building for $1/year from the City of Carlsbad. They even threw in utility costs. Several kind hearted souls have donated much of the equipment required to run basic experiments.
But we aren’t there yet. We still need to buy essentials like pipettes, fridges and freezers; get a sterile water source; and set up tissue culture facilities. We also need some cash to set up science eduation classes for the whole community including students, entrepreneurs and science aficionados. A budget will be uploaded to show you exactly how we plan to spend this money.
If you like what we are doing, donate now to help us lower the barrier to innovation and democratize science. This is science by the community for the community.