BioClub Tokyo will again join the Waag Society for another BioHack Academy 2023!

Let’s make biotechnology public!

Biology is step by step turning into a creative discipline and it’s now up to us to shape its applications and the nature-based solutions it can support.

After completing the BioHack Academy you can grow your own fuel, food, filaments, pharmaceuticals, fragrances and fungi. We’ll teach you how to build your own biolab, how to culture living factories and how to code your experiments, all guided by the appropriate biosafety standards. We have our Open Wet Lab, our Fab Lab and coding class at your disposal.

Learn how to design, grow and extract your own biomaterials using only Open Source hardware you fabricate yourself. Whether it’s a new type of bio-ink, biopolymer or biofuel, we’ll show you how to grow it yourself and share the results with others. For starters, you may choose a product from our collection, such as violacein (purple dye) or cellulose (biopolymer), and/or tell us about your own living material of choice.

• BHA Main Site from Waag Society
• Final Presentations from BHA 2022 Students from BioClub Tokyo
• Ogaki Mini Maker Faire Presentations

When & where

• Core Lecture Dates: February 27th – May 5th. But You will have more time to finish experiments and work on your projects.
• Location: BioClub Tokyo, FabCafe 2F, 〒150-0043 東京都渋谷区道玄坂１丁目２２−7 道玄坂ピアビル２階
• Global Lecture. Every Monday 18:00 – 20:00 JST (Will be recorded)
• Regular Meeting Times will be confirmed after the first session, depending on availability of participants.

Language

Global Lectures will be in English, Local Session will be in English/Japanese. You are expected to write the documentation in English. Don’t worry if your English is not perfect – but it should be enough to understand English Presentations.

Register for Application

Please fill out the registration form and join the BioClub Discord. We will then do an in-person or Zoom interview.

How we get it done

In 2.5 months we will build up our own biofactories together. Every week a lecture will be given and recorded. You will have access to the BioClub Lab during two days a week to build equipment, conduct experiments and get the support you need

The BioHack Academy lectures will give you insight into what kind of tool we are building and its usefulness in the lab. Whether you choose to either replicate the design of the tutor, improve it or build your own device from scratch. It’s up to you how sophisticated things may get.

The program is a hands-on bootcamp. All students are required to keep track of their progress and document their work, allowing them to learn from each other. Two weeks in advance of each lecture students will receive a recommended materials list and access to the tutor’s design, allowing for enough time to purchase items or to seek alternatives. By the end of the course, you and your fellow classmates will be turned into fully equipped biohackers, capable of growing a broad range of biomaterials, ready to continue production independently at home.

Curriculum

The curriculum and activities in short:

Week 1 – Introducing the BioHack Academy

• Biohacking, Biosafety and Documentation

Week 2 & 3 – (un)Making the Lab (hardware)

• Deconstructing existing lab hardware
• Making your own lab hardware with open source blueprints

Week 4 & 5 – Operating the Lab

• Wetlab in action: following protocols: making media and growing organisms 
• Wetlab in action: tweaking protocols: DIY-biomaterials, products and biosensors

Week 6 & 7 – Designing Lab experiments in Bio Engineering

• Recoding life in silico: Designing DNA digitally
• Cell free expression with CRISPR-Cas9: using CRISPR-Cas9

Week 8 & 9 – Individual Experiment

• Choosing a personal project:
  1. Redesigning lab hardware
  2. Growing your own materials
  3. Designing DNA

Week 10 – Final presentations

You will learn from academic, hacker, biodesign and bioart laboratory practices, with lectures from practitioners from all those fields. From hackers making their own laboratory hardware, artists working with CRISPR protocol to academic researchers advocating Open Source experimentation.

• Make your own Sterile Hood
• Make your own Magnetic Stirrer
• Assemble Pocket PCR Machine and Fiber Spectrometer
• Natural Dyes with natural Bacteria
• Culturing Slime-molds
• Plant-Tissue Culture
• Hunt for Water Bears (Tardigrades)! 
• Genetic Transformation of Bacteria (GFP, E.coli)
• Genetic Transformation of Bacteria with CRISPR/Cas9
• Mammalian Tissue Culture
• Cell-Free Gene Expression
• Design Your Own Plasmids!
• Learn how to do PCR!
• Learn how to use the Bento Lab

Extra Curriculum in Japan, Local Guest Speakers, Excursions

In addition to the Global Lectures from the Waag, we will invite local guest speakers ranging from experts in Bioinformatics, DIY Bio, Virology, BioArt, DNA Sequencing, Bio-Printing, etc. Details to be confirmed.

We will also make excursions to Tokyo-based Research Labs.

What’s next

After the Academy has been completed, you will receive a BioHack Academy Biofactory certificate. The project Github and video channel are open to the public to share the results with the Open Source biotech community at large. In possession of your own biofactory, you may continue to advance your production skills, engage in directed evolution experiments, produce biogas, purify water, bioremediate polluted soil, just to give a few. Bio has no limits!

Participation Fees

The costs for participating at the BioHack Academy through BioClub Tokyo differs from the costs at the Waag. 

• Discounted Participation Fee: ¥190,000
• Standard Participation Fee: ¥290,000

Please fill out the Registration From: https://forms.gle/DiwNPVEzrVNVVCkV7

Discounted Participation Fee is available for Students, Researchers and NEETs. Please get in touch for details.

100% payment is due upon registration.

All fees include course materials, reagents and disposables.

The maximum of participants for the BioHack Academy 2022 at the BioClub Tokyo is eight, applications are accepted on a first-come / first-serve basis upon receipt of the payment.

Who is BioHack Academy For?

Past participants of BHA in Tokyo included artists, designer, makers, computer engineers, biologist. You don’t need to have a background in biology – just an interest!

Graduation Requirements

• Finished and Reviewed Documentation
• Final Project

Local Instructor

• The local sessions of the BioHack Academy will be organized and led by Georg Tremmel. Other local instructor will also join for specific sessions.

Q & A

Do I need any background in Biology to participate?
No, you will learn everything during the course.

I can not understand English? Can I still participate?The global lectures and content will be in English, and also you should write the documentation and present your Final Project in English. Your English does not need to be perfect, just enough to communicate with your fellow students.

I want to join! Where do I sign up?
Please fill out the Application Form. We will get in touch with you!

Will there be another Info Event, where I can learn more about the BioHack Academy and get a Lab Tour of BioClub?
Yes, we will make another in-person Info Session in the beginning of February.

I graduated from previous BioHack Academies at BioClub. Can I join sessions for free this year?
Please get in touch, you are welcome to join and come back as an instructor. We would be happy if you could share your experience.

I am worried about Corona? Can we still make the in-person sessions?
We will monitor the situations and follow strict rules to prevent the spread of COVID-19. If we can not hold in-person sessions during BHA we will hold them at a later date.

I am not living in Tokyo. Can I join remotely?
If you have already the possibility to make experiments locally we can support remote participation. Please understand that we can not send you lab equipment to do the experiments. Please contact us to talk about details.
If you can only come to Tokyo for a shorter period, we can also accommodate the experiments around your schedule.