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Use our kit of tangible biological parts to build and program your own virtual creature! Then release it into an immersive world and watch it interact with other creations made by visitors like you.
BioDesign Studio
Biology has become a powerful and revolutionary technology in today’s world, uniquely poised to transform and propel innovation in the near future. BioDesign Studio engages the public in interactive exhibits that spark imagination and confidence with the burgeoning fields of synthetic biology, bioengineering, biological design and DIY biology.
To demystify these cutting-edge fields and technologies, visitors are empowered to explore, tinker and design with the building blocks of life. The gallery delivers more than just knowledge; it allows people of all ages to personally create with biology. We hope to inspire and equip the creative problem‐solvers of the future with a biological tool kit and mindset.
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Bio Basics
Explore unique and powerful fundamentals of biological systems with vivid displays. Put yourself in the shoes of a single cell or re-code the “fur” patterns of our adorable animals.
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Living Colors Lab
You are the scientist in this 21st-century version of our well-loved jellyfish DNA wet lab. Use real lab gear to engineer multi-colored bacteria. Discover and add your own living colors to the wall!
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Bio Futures
Explore real-life innovations in biology — such as efforts to engineer mosquitoes to stop the spread of disease. Share your own vision of a future use for synthetic biology. Let your imagination run wild!
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Creature Creation Station
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In this evolving workspace, you can try creative biodesign activities, explore genetics with scientists from Stanford, participate in community projects, and experiment with new biotechnology.
The BioTinkering Lab
Location
BioDesign Studio is located on the Upper Level, past Innovations in Health Care.
Read more on Medium: Where Tech Meets Life
Exploring Ethics and Biotech
The Tech has partnered with the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University to help people identify and respond to the ethical questions presented by technology. Learn more:
- The Ethics of Biodesign
- Hacking Life? The Politics and Poetics of DIY Biology (PDF)
- DIY bio community Code of Ethics for the United States and Europe
- Little Prevention, Less Cure: Synthetic Biology, Existential Risk, and Ethics (PDF)
- Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues’ report on the ethics of synthetic biology and other emerging technologies
- View a lecture and slides from 2017 Regan Lecturer Mildred Cho of the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics: “Synthetic Biology in the Age of Biohacking”
- Or download the Ethical Decision Making app from the Ethics Center