Main Page

Welcome to the wiki of the Hackuarium association!

At Hackuarium, we want to bring biology (and biologists) to the world, and the real world back to biology. Our laboratory is an excuse to meet and discuss, build and develop ideas in a neutral, open, noncompetitive and not-for-profit environment.

This page was launched during our 1st Ever Hackuarium Wiki Sprint that took place on 7 December 2014. As you might notice quickly, it is a work-in-progress.

Scroll down and find out what this is all about!

Cliquez ici pour accéder à la version française de ce wiki.

Hackuarium Poster (Not-for-printing version!!! see Section 7.9 Visual Identity for full size printing version)

What is DIYbio?

DIYbio (Do-It-Yourself biology) is a movement that wants to free the practice of biological research and innovation from the institutional and industrial laboratories. Pursued both by amateurs and professional biologists, DIYbio is developing low-cost and low-tech solutions to problems identified by the community.

The movement is characterised by an extremely diverse set of practices and participants. Some call themselves 'biohackers', in reference to the hacker culture.

DIYbio.org and DIYbio.eu are the portals of the international and european communities, respectively.

For more information, visit the Wikipedia page dedicated to DIYbio.

We actually believe in doing DIT (Do-It-Together) Science, as it reflects better the scope of the trans-disciplinary projects we do (often not only biology).

What is Hackuarium?

Hackuarium is a not-for-profit association aiming at democratizing science through public engagement.

Our laboratory in Renens (Switzerland) is open to anyone sharing the values of the association and who is dedicated to follow the DIYbio Europe ethical guidelines.

Our projects are initiated and carried out by scientists as well as non-scientists from a variety of background. They are passionate about tinkering with biology in particular, and technology in general. Some are engineers, architects, designers, IT and computer scientists or retired professionals, but others have no scientific education. They are mostly citizens interested in open and participatory research and innovation, outside the constrains of traditional institutions.

Hackuarium members want to investigate new ways of carrying out interdisciplinary research and innovation, by making their results accessible (low-cost), simple and easily reproducible (low-tech) and by promoting an open source philosophy.

Where are we?

Hackuarium is proudly using infrastructures provided by UniverCité, an unconventional innovation hub that opened in May 2014 in the IRL building in Renens. Our equipment is mostly upcycled material from institutions and industries from western Switzerland. We have documented our working environment as it has evolved.

Between December 2015 and January 2017, UniverCité regrouped our laboratory, a workshop and coworking space.

The original space was under construction work from January until June 2017 and We temporarily relocated on the first floor of the same building.

We are back on the second floor of what is now called "Ateliers de Renens", Chemin du Closed 5, 1020 Renens.

Who are we?

Renens is a hopping hub - and our members reflect the diversity that is in and around Lausanne/Renens.

Check us out, and find out what makes Hackuarium a good mix.

Committee

The current committee is composed of the following people:

• Co - President: Vanessa Lorenzo (also Art and Design coordinator)
• Co - President: Rachel Aronoff (also Citizen Science coordinator)
• Secretary and Treasurer: Luc Henry
• Lab Manager: Gustavo Santamaria
• Online promotion: Yann Pierson
• System Administrator: Sam Sulaimanov
• Talent scout and evangelist for Academy: Anne-Laure Pittet
• Talent scout and evangelist for Entrepreneurs: Gianpaolo Rando
• Talent scout and evangelist: Daniel Hernandez
• Community happiness, Ateliers de Renens Link: Yann Heurtaux

The Agenda of the last board meeting can be found here.
The Agenda of the next board meeting can be found here.

Members and Membership

Do you have a project in mind? Do you just want to support us?

Hackuarium operates on a membership basis, even though all events are open to anyone, including non-members.

The monthly membership fee is 20 CHF. It gives 24/7 access to the lab.

We would love to have you as a member! Just follow the instructions below.

Want to join?

• We have a new form on the website, to fast-track joining the community, if you are keen, perhaps after a few #OpenHackuarium experiences (every Wednesday evening is open to the public).

• Read some helpful info here.

• Write an email to hello@hackuarium.ch and give us a short description of:
  • Yourself, your interests, your background
  • What you would like to learn or do at Hackuarium

Friends of Hackuarium

Spaces:

UniverCité

La Paillasse, Paris

Paillasse Saône, Lyon

The BioFoundry, Sydney

Bioquisitive, Melbourne

Projects:

Exodes Urbains

EchOpen

Octanis

Hybridoa

Events

Our lab and space are open to the public. Please come and have a chat! And if you have any questions get in touch!

OpenHackuarium: Every Wednesday, 19:00-22:00

You want to organise an event at Hackuarium, or with the Hackuarium community? We have guidelines below.

Upcoming Hackuarium Events

2018

2018.05.02 Wednesday 19:30-22:00: 200 weeks of Hackuarium - Should we celebrate? Let us know how!

2018.03.29 Thursday 19:00-21:00: Board Meeting

2018.03.10 Saturday 09:30-18:00: Workshop: Building your own spectrophotometer -

2018.03.07 Wednesday 19:30-22:00: General Assembly - Annual meeting of the members (all visitors welcome!)

2018.02.28 Wednesday 19:00-22:00: EPFL iGEM is visiting Hackuarium! -

2018.02.08 Thursday 19:00-21:00: Board Meeting

2018.01.18 Thursday 19:00-21:00: Board Meeting

or follow our google calendar

Past Hackuarium Events

You can find the complete list of our past events here.

Projects

Here, you will find the projects going on in the Hackuarium.

Active Projects

• P1 Lab Activities
• BeerDeCoded
• BIO-DESIGN for the REAL WORLD
• Living Instruments
• Micro to Macro Water Pollution - with Hammerdirt and BIO-DESIGN for the REAL WORLD
• Spectro-pointer
• Darty_Monkeys
• Octanis - with more information about their Rover / Balloon here
• Grow&Mix_Bioink
• AGiR! for genomic integrity
• Moss Menageries with AGiR!
• Open Source Bioreactor
• Steady state bioreactor
• Workshop Bioprinter
• HTGAA
• Terraforming Alkaline Experiments
• Crowdfunding
• DIY Transilluminator

Archived Projects

• Hacktion challenges
• Open-Food-DNA
• Bience (Beer and Science!)
• Mycelium Structures
• Live Type
• LivingLab Design
• Bioluminescence
• Quantitative Anthropology
• Impression 3D
• Projects:Dépollution des stands de tirs Suisses
• Incubateur bon marché
• Space Seed
• Reception d'images satellites
• Edible wall
• ZéBU CH
• Compost Bacteria
• Protein purification systems
• unmapping
• Colab Biomaterials

Practical Information

Following this link you will find a general plan of Hackuarium.
Following this link, you will find the plan of Hackuarium with the position of equipment.

Rules at Hackuarium

We have very few rules at Hackuarium. The goal of the association is to provide freedom to its members, so they can explore beyond what is allowed elsewhere. However, we want members and anyone participating in our activities to feel comfortable and respected.

This page describes the code of conduct for Hackuarium members.

Event Organisation

You want to organise an event?

Go for it! and spread the love for tech, science, art and design.

Here is a "Wiki express" so that everyone feels empowered:

• Want to organise an EVENT with members/companies/universities/anyone?
  • Talk to Vanessa or Rachel — or send an email to board@hackuarium.ch — to make sure there is no conflict with another event
  • Talk to XXX to check if the space is free
  • Talk to Yann Pierson our 'online promotion' specialist, who will make sure the announcements are made on all the social media outlets for Hackuarium!
  • You need a microgrant to cover the costs (up to 300.-)? Send an email to board@hackuarium.ch with a description (what, when, who) and a preliminary budget.
  • When all this is arrange, talk to the community, to spread the word —> us the slack #_uc-events channel
• Is it a WORKSHOP?? All the previous & make sure you get your logistics right!
  • Is there a SIMILAR workshop ALREADY planned?If yes, negotiate dates and: Do you target the SAME people? If yes, negotiate. If not, no problem. It maybe interesting to see what others do.

Protocols

All the protocols that we use at Hackuarium will be found here (work in progress). They are detailed and structured so that the main focus is on applications. The idea is to give crucial information on how to apply the most common techniques of the Biology toolbox. The protocols are structured as follow:

A scheme describing each

A brief description of the protocol and its use

A description of the different ways of carrying out the protocol. Ideally there should be a description of a commercial kit and a DIY kit.

A description of the safety issues and best practice

Information specific to Hackuarium and where to find the components, tools and reagents.

Instruments available

This page describes all the instruments available at Hackuarium (work in progress..), their location and how to use them.

Up-to-date list of instruments we still need

This on-line document contains all the instruments, tools and consumables we are looking for. Our standard donation contract (French) Contrat_de_donation. If your organisation happen to discard a piece of equipment we are (or may be) looking for, contact us!

Where we shop

Wetware

Consumables can be purchased from Huber Lab.

Swiss-based Smiples has a very extensive listing of second hand laboratory and technical items. These can be bought from their online shop or from Ricardo.

Hardware

Options for electronic parts

• Ebay (international)
• AliExpress (China)
• Adafruit (UK)
• Seeedstudio (China)
• Tmart (Hong Kong)
• Rasberry pi shop (Switzerland)
• Distrelec (Switzerland)

How to built a new project page on our Wiki

If you want to start or edit a project page on Hackuarium's wiki, please follow these instructions.

ReadingList

The DIY biology / Biohacking movement

Biohackers. The politics of open science by Alessandro Delfanti (2013) London: Pluto Press.

A review by Luc Henry

DIY-Bio – economic, epistemological and ethical implications and ambivalences by Jozef Keulartz and Henk van den Belt (2016) Life Sciences, Society and Policy

Biohacking everything you need to know about diy biology, (Accessed 05.2016)

Genspace gets funding, PRNewswire, (Accessed 05.2016)

Learn from DIY biologists, Todd Kuiken, Nature, (Accessed 05.2016)

And a much more complete list by Massimiliano Simons, KU Leuven:

The Rebirth of DIYbio by Jef Akst, The Scientist, March 2013

Out of the lab and onto the streets by Kat Austen, New Scientist, June 2013

DIYbio - Alternative Career Path for Biologists? by Beth Baker, BioScience (2015) 65 (1): 112

From synthetic biology to biohacking: are we prepared? by Gaymon Bennett, Nils Gilman, Anthony Stavrianakis & Paul Rabinow, Nature Biotechnology 27, 1109 - 1111 (2009)

Office as Biosecurity Gatekeeper: Fosering Responsible Science and Building Public Trust in DIY Science by Brian J. Gorman, J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 423 (2011)

Biolab-on-Wheels: finding a space for a DIY bio lab in Toronto by Roberta Buiani, Journal of Mobile Media, February 2015

Charisius, Hanno & Friebe, Richard & Karberg, Sascha - Biohacking: Gentechnik aus der Garage

Curry, Helen Anne - From garden biotech to garage biotech: amateur experimental biology in historical perspective

Davies, Sarah R. & Karin Tybjerg & Louise Whiteley & Thomas Söderqvist - Co-curation as hacking: biohackers in Copenhagen's Medical Museion

Delfanti, Alessandro - Biohackers: The Politics of Open Science

Delfanti, Alessandro - Tweaking genes in your garage: biohacking between activism and entrepreneurship

Delfanti, Alessandro - Is Do-it-Yourself Biology Being Co-opted by Institutions?

Delfanti, Alessandro - Distributed biotechnology

Delfanti, Alessandro - Hacking genomes. The ethics of open and rebel biology

Delgado, Ana - DIYbio: Making things and making futures

Editorial - Empowering citizen scientists

Eggleson, Kathleen - Transatlantic Divergences in Citizen Science Ethics - Comparative Analysis of the DIYbio Code of Ethics Drafts of 2011

Gewin, Virginia - Independent streak

Golinelli, Stefano & Guido Ruivenkamp - Do-it-yourself biology: Action research within the life sciences

Grushkin, D., Kuiken, T., Millet, P - Seven Myths & Realities about Do-It-Yourself Biology

Grushkin, Daniel - Am I a biohazard?

Holloway, Dustin - Regulating Amateurs

Jefferson, Chaterine - Governing Amateur Biology: Extending Respnonsible Research and Innovation in Synthetic Biology to New Actors

Kean, Sam - A Lab of Their Own

Kelty, Christopher - Outlaw, hackers, victorian amateurs: diagnosing publich participation in the life sciences today

Kera, Denisa - Hackerspaces and DIYbio in Asia: connecting science and community with open data, kits and protocols

Kera, Denisa - Innovation regimes based on collaborative and global tinkering: Synthetic biology and nanotechnology in the hackerspaces

Kuiken, Todd - DIYbio: Low Risk, High Potential

Kuiken, Todd - Learn from Do-It-Yourself Biologists

Kuznetsov, Stacey - Expanding Our Visions of Citizen Science

Kuznetsov, Stacey & Alex Taylor & Tim Regan & Nicolas Villar & Eric Paulos - At the seams: DIYbio and opportunities for HCI

Kuznetsov, Stacey & Carrie Doonan & Nathan Wilson & Swarna Mohan & Scott E. Hudson & Eric Paulson - DIYbio Things: Open Source Biology Tools as Platforms fo rHybrid Knowledge Production and Scientific Participation

Landrain, Thomas & Meyer, Morgan & Perez, Ariel Martin & Sussan, Remi - Do-it-yourself biology: challenges and promises for an open science and technology movement

Lisa Z. Scheifele & Thomas Burkett - The First Three Years of a Community Lab: Lessons Learned and Ways Forward

McKenna, Phil - Rise of the garage genome hackers

Meyer, Morgan - Build your own lab

Meyer, Morgan - Domesticating and democratizing science: a geography of do-it-yourself biology

Meyer, Morgan - Hacking Life? The Politics and Poetics of DIY Biology

Meyer, Morgan - Bricoler, domestiquer et contourner la science

Nascimento, Susana & Angela Guimaraes Pereira & Alessia Ghezzi - From Citizen Science to Do It Yourself Science

NSABB - Strategies to Educate Amateur Biologists and Scientists in Non-life Science Disciplines About Dual use Research in the Life Science

Schmidt, Markus - Diffusion of synthetic biology

Scudellari, Megan - Biology Hacklabs

Seyfried, Günter & Pei, Lei & Schmidt, Markus - European do-it-yourself (DIY) biology: Beyond the hope, hype and horror

Sholette, Gregory - Disciplining the avant-garde: The United States versus the Critical Art Ensemble

Sipra Bihani & Michael Hartman & Florian Sobiegalla & Amanda rosenberg - Comparing network strutures of commercial and non-commercial biohacking online-communities

Söderberg, Johan & Delfanti, Alessandro - Hacking Hacked! The Life Cycles of Digital Innovation

Söderberg, Johan & Delfanti, Alessandro - Repurposing the hacker. Three temporalities of recuperation

Tocchetti, Sara - DIYbiologists as 'Makers' of Personal Biologies

Tocchetti, Sara - What kind of work we are doing now and what kind of work we want to do

Tocchetti, Sara & Sara Angeli Aguiton - Is an FBI Agent an DIY Biologist Like Any Oter? A Cultural Analysis of a Biosecurity Risk

Trojok, Rüdiger - Biohacking: Gentechnologie für Alle

van Boheemen, Pieter & Huib de Vriend - Do-it-yourself biology: Een verkenning van ontwikkelingen in Nederland

Wohlsen, Marcus - Biopunk: Solving Biotech's Biggest Problems in Kitchens and Garages

Open Hardware

Open-hardware, pioneers push for low-cost lab kitElizabeth Gibney, Nature, (Accessed 05.2016)

Appropedia a source of DIY instruments builds, Dr. Joshua Pearce, (Accessed 05.2016)

The PCB milling machine, Open Hardware Repository, (Accessed 05.2016)

More

http://www.creativeapplications.net/processing/sensortape-3d-aware-dense-sensor-network-on-a-tape/, Sensory network on a roll of tape, Filip Visnjic, (Accessed 05.2016)

RedEye Oxygen Sensing Patches, Ocean Optics, (Accessed 05.2016)

Art

Rainbow wasp nests, Mattia Menchetti, (Accessed 05.2016)

Dirty beats making music with bacteria, Interspecifics(Accessed 05.2016)

More1, More2, More3

Ideas/Concepts/Science

The new tree of life TED (Accessed 05.2016)

Rethinking work, Yann Heurtaux, (Accessed 05.2016)

That plastic bottle cutter, Pavel & Ian, (Accessed 05.2016)

Open Source

Results held hostage, Francesco Mondada, (Accessed 05.2016)

Visual Identity

• Logo
• Our poster in pdf ready to print
• Working on a footage for videos (comming soon)

Media and Press

• 2016.09.27 - Hackuarium is mentioned in a paper by Celia Luterbacher on citizen science: Citizen science: Not a scientist? Not a problem

• 2016.09.18 - Luc Henry, co-founder of Hackuarium, is interviewed in this podcast on citizen science: Science for non-scientists

• to be completed!

• 2017.09.09 - Tribune de Génève article on Biohacking.

Wanted

Do you want to contribute to making Hackuarium a diverse and lively community? Check out our wanted lists:

Skills

Ideas

Equipment

Consumables