The hackerspace phenomenon is well established, but biohackerspaces are just getting off the ground. From sequencing to synthesis, the tools of modern molecular biology are close at hand. In this talk I intend to share some of the work I’ve been involved in at BioCurious in the SF bay area, and how I intend to bring that home to Victoria. Identify plants and bacteria, sample your genome, create glowing bacteria (or anything else, really!)
Derek Jacoby is a PhD student at UVic, founding member of makerspace.ca, fellow at BioCurious, biotech faculty at Singularity University. Scientist, maker, developer, designer, prognosticator, tag-cloud bio author.
Derek Jacoby has a diverse set of interests and experience. Originally a psychology major, he spent over a decade in the computer industry, initially running user studies and designing user interfaces. Ultimately, though, he ended up at Microsoft and fulfilled roles in development, project management, and Microsoft Research. After leaving Microsoft he attended wooden boat building school and then spent 9 months in a primitive living skills apprenticeship, finally he returned to Canada in 2008 and went back to school at UVic with interests in biology. With some other students, he started an iGEM team to create novel synthetic organisms out of bacteria.