8-Bit Biological Research and Education for All!
Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2020 3:53 am
Hi Everyone,
My name's Sebastian and I'm part of Binomica Labs, a non-profit organization based in New York City, dedicated to providing the software, hardware, wetware and thoughtware to enable anyone and everyone to contribute meaningfully to science and the study of the natural world. We're a bunch of self-taught amateur biologists with no formal academic degrees but we're passionate about all things living. Both myself and my research partner Sung are incredibly excited to start coding useful and functional tools for biological research using the Commander X16 as a showcase of what questions one can explore as an amateur with minimal tools. I'm mildly mediocre at electronics engineering so I'm planning on building laboratory hardware that directly interfaces with the X16 like pH meters, spectrometers, thermometers, etc to take readings and measurements. Sung's the bioinformatics expert so he'll be porting open source software tools for analyzing DNA, protein sequences, constructing phylogenetic trees, etc which will aid in formulating real-world hypotheses with the intention of getting amateurs from all walks of life to publish their findings and add to the ever-expanding body of scientific knowledge which benefits everyone on this planet. There are more questions left unanswered in biology than there are grains of sand in all the deserts and many will remain unanswered unless curious and passionate folks explore, poke, and peek at the world around them. We're dedicated to small thoughtful science and encourage anyone interested to join the fun. I post often on various social media platforms as @ATinyGreenCell with updates on our work, feel free to check out our GitHub page under Binomica Labs for open source hardware and other goodies. My research focus is in plants, specifically the genetic engineering and design of flowers and I host an open lab notebook (link here), Sung's research focus is in virology with a specialization in phages (bacterial viruses) and he'll have an open lab notebook on his exploits soon. We have some tutorials on our github under the Publications repository with detailed pictures on how to conduct a few biological research techniques with more to come in the near future. Here's our landing page with contact info and some more details. Hope to chat, exchange ideas, and hopefully inspire some of you to embark on your own personal journey throught the weird, wet, and wonderful world of biology. Yay, science!