The Bio-Builders Learning Lab @ Ginkgo is one year old, and what a great year it has been! Hundreds of people visited and used the lab during the past year for workshops and special events, and students returned to in-person learning! Let’s take a look at what’s been happening.

Let’s do this!

The keys to the new lab were handed over to Dr. Natalie Kuldell, Founder and Executive Director of Bio-Builders, in July of 2021. The wonderful 3300 square feet of lab and classrooom space is made available by Ginkgo Bioworks, who pledged to donate more than $1.2M to cover the full cost of rent over the next three years!

The Learning Lab was outfitted thanks to the generosity of many ardent Bio-Builders supporters. From furniture to lab equipment and supplies, their assistance has been nothing short of remarkable.

An eye-popping $100K of funding and in kind donations came from

• K2 Scientific provided refrigeration units.
• Carolina Biological Supply gifted lab equipment.
• The Furniture Trust donated furnishings.
• The Richmond Group donated lab benches.
• New England Biolabs provided lab materials and supplies.
• The Massachusetts Life Science Center granted funds for lab-specific furniture and equipment.

Want to take a peek under the hood as we built the lab? Check out the sidebar of our November 2021 blog post!

We built, they came!

Once ready, it was Go Time for events at the Learning Lab. Our small but mighty Bio-Builders team

• led 23 student workshops with 439 participants from nine states (MA, NY, CA, TX, MN, KS, IA, FL, CO)
• taught 5 Professional Development workshops for 80 working professionals
• hosted 5 special events attended by 145 people
• ran a High School Apprenticeship Challenge poster session and closing ceremony attended by 58 students and their families

Overall, nearly 800 people visited the Learning Lab over the past 12 months. Not bad for its rookie season!