The rumors of our demise... (was: Re: [CCL] Mind if I come visit?)

[raymondmccauley]

BioCurious is not closing. 

Anything you are hearing to the contrary is irresponsible or hateful rumor-mongering. 

Two things.

BioCurious as an organization supports Counter Culture Labs. And I do personally -- I'm a contributing member. Because it's the right thing to do. I send people to CCL all the time. Because having vibrant, diverse, geographically spread out bio labs in the Bay Area makes our whole community stronger. But there's been an undercurrent of competition from some CCL-associated individuals, who seem to want to tear down existing spaces rather than build up new ones. Let's not do that. Let's not be those guys. Let's make this about everyone getting capabilities to get new and good things done. 

Second thing: We made a decision at BioCurious last year to open up our processes and finances. Because it's hard to find a business model that lets lots of people work in a shared lab for next-to-nothing. And because it's the right thing to do. This meant revealing data about financial weaknesses, with the hope that people would jump in and help rather than pile on and criticize and prophesy doom. Well, it's been a mixed bag -- some folks have stepped up, but about an equal number have armchair quarterbacked or thrown rocks. 

We could run BioCurious as a vanity project, with 4 or 5 people personally contributing and the rest along for the ride. We could do a series of crowd-funded ot reaches, and tip jars, and try to get national grants for merely local initiatives, not letting other labs in other places start their own things. We don't want to do it that way -- the more interesting experiment is what happens when there's a diverse lab space with few restrictions and multiple folks contributing, learning to make it break-even, and even thrive. People who've been around the block, biohackerspace-wise, know it's not about the list of equipment but the helpful community that buoys up everyone's efforts, that lends a hand to newcomers. We're being open to try to involve more folks.

We're still being open about financial models and financial difficulties. We've got less hope that we'll attract help that way, although like-minded folks continue to trickle in, who are the backbone and soul and mitochondria (I know -- but it's a good metaphor). But we want to share our best (and worst) practices, and lessons learned, so other labs and groups can learn from them. We continue to be available for candid questions and to provide help to folks trying to democratize biotech. 

Please make it easier for us to do this. When someone starts trash-talking a space or an individual, call them out. Ask them if they've talked with the folks they're gossiping about. Tell them to come to the source. Or you do it, and spread the word.  

Thanks,

Raymond

On Saturday, September 14, 2013 5:39:01 PM UTC-7, rtshigeta wrote:

Hi Justin. 

Biocurious is apparently closing doors Monday or so

so you got here just in time. Google maps will get you a good estimate of public transit time but. It's probably 2+ hours from Oakland to Biocurious. It's not terribly near the train. 

Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 14, 2013, at 1:33 PM, "justin.dormandy" <justin....@gmail.com> wrote:

I just got into town and am staying in a hostel in SF near pier 39. I used your meetup page to RSVP for "Open Bioinformatics: The Proteome," your working meeting on the 18th, and thought I should stop by and visit BioCurious on the 16th for their Bioluminescence community project night. As you can tell everything is all a bit out of the way for me and I'm not too familiar with the area. Are any of you familiar with the public transportation system here in the bay area and have any ideas for how much time I should give myself to get around to these addresses:

2141 Broadway, Oakland

911 Wood Street, Oakland

845 Stewart Drive, Suite C, Sunnyvale, CA

Thanks for any tips and I'm looking forward to meeting all of you.

Best Regards,

-Justin

On Wednesday, September 4, 2013 2:19:22 PM UTC-7, patrikd wrote:

Sure - we'd love to have you over!

Patrik

On Wed, Sep 4, 2013 at 1:59 PM, justin.dormandy <justin....@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Everyone,

I'm one of the guys who was pretty involved with DIYBio PDX / Portlab a couple months back. I'm probably going to be in the bay area next week and was wondering if anyone minds if I come visit and maybe sit in on one of your meetings, pick your brains, and generally be a geek?

Best Regards,

-Justin

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[Ryan Bethencourt]

Hey Raymond,

Thanks for clarifying things with Biocurious, there have been a lot of rumors flying around and I know I was definitely not clear with what was going on.

I can only speak from my perspective but I've only had positive experiences with Biocurious and particularly with you and Kristina (you both helped and supported me  and my work in many ways, including our work at Halpin Neurosciences and encouraged me to apply for the Assay Depot award). You both, particularly have put in a lot of blood,sweat and tears into running Biocurious and I do think the broader DIY bio community appreciates it (I know I do!).

I think David Lang said it best when he described efforts in the Maker community as Do It Together (DIT) rather than just DIY and I think it also applies to all of us and hopefully our future efforts together. We're on the cusp of a revolution in biotech and I strongly suspect we will all be collaborators through various groups, organizations and companies as we'll need to work together to solve hard science problems and I think/hope we all support collaborating freely!

Let me know if I can ever be of help with Biocurious and I'll try to make the commute down to Sunnyvale sometime soon to see you guys too!

All the best,

Ryan

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Ryan Bethencourt

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