Molecularist

When we were setting up the wetspace over at The Sprouts, there was a lot of discussion about safety. We were all interested in safety, but Mac was clearly stressing that the future of DIYBio depends heavily on showing that DIYBio can be done safely.

At the set up we had three people, Kay (an active DIYBiologist), Manuel, and Charles, who have (recent) academic and corporate lab experience, and me with academic experience (if a bit hazy from years of inactivity). Together we (mostly them) were able to go over what was needed to make the wetspace safe for reagents, working, disposal, and so forth (especially for The Sprouts).

Highlighting these concerns, the iGEM competition was closed to non-main stream scientists, partly due to safety issues. And the DIYBio-NYC folks are inundated with media request, to see what they are up to, particularly to allay any community safety fears.

I've been doing some investigation and I can't really find a central place for "Plain English" Safety Guidelines that are relevant to DIYBiologists. I envision a wiki where links and info are collated and annotated, training videos, lists of where to get or how to make safety enclosures and equipment, links to downloadable material safety data sheets, lists of suppliers and agencies and safety companies (such as disposal), and so on. But the key thing is that it would be easily accessible and tailored for the DIYBiologist.

This is one aspect of ensuring safety among DIYBiologists, but there are a few more and I am still figuring out how to offer them.

I am not sure _where_ this wiki should be. A quick look at Open Wet ware shows that all the safety info is lab-specific or hidden behind firewalls (understandable, since it's about institutional rules and such).

So, my questions are:

1) Is this a good idea? (I know it is)
2) Where should this wiki be?
3) Who wants to be part of it? (I don't think it should be an open wiki, but curated by a few people. And, of course, since I mentioned it, I should be part of it.)

We had a DIYbio Cambridge Boston Sommerville meetup this past weekend to get familiar with a nice new hackspace, The Sprouts, to come up with a project for the next few months, and to move and set up equipment in the current space.

The great folks at The Sprouts actually want a wet-space for DIYbiology. They gave us some space and they even had some equipment. We added to that the equipment Mac picked up from a failed biotech.

The whole moving, setting-up thing was quick. We had Kay, Mac, Manuel, Paul, Charles, Jason, and I there, so the "many hands" made the work lighter.

I was happy to see things happening, space being set up, projects being set. Of the things on my to-do list, a few have been now knocked off, allowing me to join existing set-ups.

I took some video of what we were up to.

One last thing: I am so pleased with The Sprouts. They only opened in August, but show great promise. I hope that our group can be part of their growth and give back as even more than they have already so generously given us.