Public transport at 5pm is absolute hell. I made my journey from the Docklands to Brunswick, a suburb of Melbourne renowned for its Bohemian culture and its famous art and now officially home to the first Biohacking space in Melbourne.
Your first question may be what is Biohacking? Biohacking is an emerging social movement. Think of it as “Do it yourself biology”. DIY-Biology allows members of the public from all backgrounds and abilities to have access and to engage in life sciences outside of formal settings. As my navigational skills failed me once again, I finally found myself outside of a graffiti-covered warehouse, typical of Melbourne. Unsure if my location was correct, I coyly knocked on the front door. I was greeted by Andrew, the director, and co-founder of BioQuisitive, Melbourne’s first and only Biohacking space. Originally from America, he moved to Australia just over 18 years ago. Andrew served in the US Navy for 5 years and traveled from Japan to Afghanistan. Whilst serving he took an online course in Biology and realized this is something he really wanted to do. Not unlike most science students, Andrew found himself conflicted on how he was going to get into the field and more importantly what was he going to do? After finding like-minded people in the science community Andrew was able to make his dream a reality and shortly after setting up BioQuisitive. He recently graduated from Monash University after studying Molecular Biology and Biochemistry.
Andrew created BioQuisitive with the intention of making science accessible to everyone. While it sounds crazy to say, science can be accessible to everyone, BioQuisitive makes it a reality. The BioQuisitive lab is visited by everyone from professional scientists, students to complete amateurs allowing them to get involved and hands-on with science. From Facebook posts seeing if anyone else was interested in creating a make-shift lab, to your typical Aussie sausage sizzle to raise funds they managed to create a warm and welcoming community of scientists. Andrew regards BioQuisitive as the best project he has been a part of yet and I entirely agree, but I wanted to know what goes on inside the lab. BioQuisitive runs regular workshops in all areas of Biology, he recently ran a workshop on taking GFPs (green fluorescent proteins) found in Jellyfish and placed into a Bacteria, apparently, everyone’s faces light up when they saw their work glow.
After working alongside Andrew for the past few weeks I have come to realize he has a real soft spot for Tardigrades, after introducing me to “Squishy Face” you could tell he is extremely keen to do something with these alien creatures. Alongside this, he is working on developing hangover-free beer (fingers crossed) and now supervising me on my project on using bacteria to help combat microfiber contamination.
Andrew had a few hints and tips to those pursuing a science career. Firstly, he stresses on working on your networks and remembering that all of your friends at university are the future of science, so keep them close. Even so reach out to your lecturers, don’t be afraid to be that person hanging around after class to ask them questions (we all know that person) and bear in mind that they will try and sell you their field of science. Constantly keep up to date on meetups in the fields that you are interested in, actively go to research labs and don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and do not be shy. People will appreciate your passion and be excited about having prospective scientists interested in their field. So, get yourself out there and get yourself into a lab whether you’re an assistant, a volunteer or just a spectator, all experience is a great experience.
Since with meeting Andrew, I have now become a member of BioQuisitive Melbourne and I am now running a project in Microfiber Contamination. From one email I have now entered a whole new area of science that I didn’t even know existed just one month ago. Put yourself out there and remember anyone can get involved in science.
You can find out more about BioQuisitive here