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Team:Genspace/Project
From 2014.igem.org
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Project
What is the Open Lab?
Genspace has a unique opportunity to expand its impact beyond its physical presence in New York and bring hands-on involvement with synthetic biology to schools and communities around the world. The Open Lab is the key step towards this vision; it is the complete set of knowledge, tools, and resources required to successfully develop a thriving community biolab, all created following open source principles. Enthusiast communities and organizations around the world can partner with the Open Lab to fill in key gaps in knowledge, tools, or resources to launch their own community biolabs.
What is currently being developed for the Open Lab?
Genspace is currently focusing on two essentials projects that will form the core of the knowledge and tool components for the Open Lab.
Open Lab Blueprint – visit OpenLab-Blueprint.org to view
The Open Lab Blueprint is an easy-to-follow guide to launch and develop a sustainable community biolab. The website is a work in progress and is hosting at OpenLab-Blueprint.org. This Blueprint is a holistic view of the community biolab and includes the following components:
- Starting up a lab, including identifying the right space, acquisition of key equipment, and efficiently implementing safety standards and best practices.
- Developing a community, including building awareness, developing programs of engagement for students, the amateur scientists, and the general public, and collaborating with the broader scientific and educational communities.
- Creating unique content, including educational resources, using the Genspace curriculum and engaging activities, focused on tailored, site-specific explorations and experiments.
- Operating a biolab, including a resource base of protocols for standard genetic engineering activities, geared towards a budget-constrained lab, operational best-practices ranging from procurement of reagents to proper storage of experiments, and financial sustainability models.
The Open Plasmid is a key tool for the community biolab. Genspace has partnered with Cathal Garvey, founder of Indie Biotech, to design an open source and IP-free plasmid for the community biolab. The Open Plasmid is a core platform on which many experiments in a community biolab can be built on, essentially the equivalent of an Arduino for the citizen science community. The plasmid is designed to be easily modifiable, and therefore approachable to everyone from weekend researcher to curious high school student. The plasmid is also designed to be easy to cultivate with minimal resources. Unlike most plasmids, it does not need to be grown with antibiotics, significantly increasing accessibility to budget-constrained organizations, and having less negative environmental impact.
As a first step, we have cloned the IP-free fluorescent protein genes. These are meant to be used together with the Open Plasmid. Each gene codes for a differently fluorescent protein: cyan, green, and red. These sequences can be used as teaching tools for classes or workshops or as molecular tools by independent researchers who are part of the community.
