I'm a serial blog-abandoner, but I'm generally good for eventually returning to them and reviving them again for a while. Consider this an update since the last post, in which time much has happened and more is expected soon. Workshops The science gallery workshops went great, as far as I'm concerned. The (regrettably few) participants were great fun to work with, and I learned a lot about the unique requirements of a mobile or temporary lab.
Hey all, Tomorrow is the last session of the first biohacking workshops in Ireland. It's been awesome fun (even though much of the hastily prepared stuff didn't work as intended!) and really informative to me and hopefully my excellent participants. Sadly a lot of people couldn't make the weekdays due to pernicious blights such as employment, but tomorrow might be a chance to get a more diverse group together before it's all over.
It's not too late for you to take part in the biohacking workshops that I've been facilitating in the Science Gallery this past week. It's true, the wet-work is officially out of the way, and tomorrow's session assumes some grounding that has been provided in prior days. However, the last day will focus not on the methods, nor even the knowledge of biotech. Instead, we'll focus on the role of biohacking in society, with a particular focus on the transformative power of DIY biotech, the social responsibility and ethics that this calls for, and the particulars of Irish law regarding biohacking.
Hey all, Over at IndieBiotech.com I've shared some of what I'm up to, and I may as well mirror it here! In a nutshell, I'm preparing for a five-day course of Biohacking workshops in the Science Gallery in Dublin, starting Tuesday and ending Saturday afternoon. I've had to prepare some mad inventions to make it happen due to equipment restrictions, which you might find amusing or exciting. The aim of the workshops is to deliver a crashcourse in literacy and skills in biohacking; you should come out of the workshops with a basic understanding of how DNA, RNA and Protein work, how bacteria work, and how to design and build your own GMOs.
It's terribly late of me to share this on my own website, but here it is: This Tuesday next, 14th June, I'll be commencing a five-day workshop in DIYbio and biohacking. The course is €150 and runs from 10am-3pm weekdays and 1-4pm on Saturday. Bookings through the Science Gallery please. Rough content breakdown by day: Introduction to Microbiology, Evolution, Genetics, Bacterial physiology, Synthetic Biology. Practical skills: Sterilising, maintaining sterility, basics of microbiology.
This Friday and Saturday, I'm hosting three daily sessions of a DIYbio workshop, focusing on Amateur Microbiology and Biotechnology. The DIYbio workshops are in the Camden Palace Building, in Nexus Cork (the Cork Makerspace). Following that, I'm hosting another DIYbio workshop at Mindfield on April 29th in the Hackerspace tent at 8PM, which will follow the same format as the above. This workshop will focus on microbiology, genetic engineering and synthetic biology as topics of discussion, and participants will be shown the basic techniques of Microbiology.