CCL Working Meeting (Every Wednesday 7pm)
One of our favorite things about CCL is how accessible we are. Some amazing science is happening right here, from discovering new ways to make insulin, to discovering new species of mushrooms - and all you have to do to meet these amazing people in person is show up on a Wednesday evening for our weekly Working Meeting between 7pm and 9pm. Want to meet the people who make this space possible? Want to get involved and lend a hand? Maybe just want to come check out CCL and see if it's the right community for you - the Wednesday evening meet-up is the best place to start! Join the potluck atmosphere by bringing drinks, or even something science or technology related that you've been working on!
One of our favorite things about CCL is how accessible we are. Some amazing science is happening right here, from discovering new ways to make insulin, to discovering new species of mushrooms - and all you have to do to meet these amazing people in person is show up on a Wednesday evening for our weekly Working Meeting between 7pm and 9pm. Want to meet the people who make this space possible? Want to get involved and lend a hand? Maybe just want to come check out CCL and see if it's the right community for you - the Wednesday evening meet-up is the best place to start! Join the potluck atmosphere by bringing drinks, or even something science or technology related that you've been working on!
Open Insulin Hardware (Sundays 11am) / Science (Sundays 1pm)
Developing the first open source protocol to produce insulin simply and economically in addition to open source insulin production hardware. Our work may serve as a basis for generic production of this life-saving drug and provide a firmer foundation for continued research into improved versions of insulin.
Help make affordable insulin available to millions worldwide. Go to the Open Insulin website and make a donation to our life saving humanitarian effort. Join us every Sunday on Jitsi video conferencing.
Help make affordable insulin available to millions worldwide. Go to the Open Insulin website and make a donation to our life saving humanitarian effort. Join us every Sunday on Jitsi video conferencing.
Environmental Justice Group (Every other Tuesday 7pm)
Environmental Justice refers to the concept of executing environmental science with the goal of better addressing the disparity between how environmental pollution affects more privileged communities versus more vulnerable ones - it is fundamentally unfair that those who contribute the least to pollution have to deal with the consequences the most, and we aim to work towards alleviating that unbalance. Beyond that, our group aims to address current environmental issues among SF bay communities as they emerge, providing investigative support to communities as they need it.
Our group is still in the process of orienting our direction of action and establishing community connections/collaborations, So it is still early in the process! Please come join if you want to learn more about our ongoing efforts or have your own ideas, or if you are a part of any other environmental science group in the bay and want to collaborate - environmental justice only works with active participation from the community and you!
Environmental Justice refers to the concept of executing environmental science with the goal of better addressing the disparity between how environmental pollution affects more privileged communities versus more vulnerable ones - it is fundamentally unfair that those who contribute the least to pollution have to deal with the consequences the most, and we aim to work towards alleviating that unbalance. Beyond that, our group aims to address current environmental issues among SF bay communities as they emerge, providing investigative support to communities as they need it.
Our group is still in the process of orienting our direction of action and establishing community connections/collaborations, So it is still early in the process! Please come join if you want to learn more about our ongoing efforts or have your own ideas, or if you are a part of any other environmental science group in the bay and want to collaborate - environmental justice only works with active participation from the community and you!
Real Vegan Cheese (every Monday 7pm)
The Real Vegan Cheese project is an award-winning collaboration between Counter Culture Labs and our sister lab BioCurious in Sunnyvale, to make real cheese without using any animals!
Real Vegan Cheese is a not a cheese substitute! It all starts with regular old baker's yeast. Through synthetic biology, we engineer our yeast to become milk-protein factories. Our milk proteins are then combined with water and vegan oil to make Vegan Milk which is ultimately converted into Real Vegan Cheese through standard cheese-making processes - just like cheese made from cow or goat milk! In principle, we can make cheese from any animal for which we have a genome sequence - even something as strange as Narwhal whales. And hey, if we can make Narwhal cheese, we 're just one step away from making unicorn cheese!
The Real Vegan Cheese project is an award-winning collaboration between Counter Culture Labs and our sister lab BioCurious in Sunnyvale, to make real cheese without using any animals!
Real Vegan Cheese is a not a cheese substitute! It all starts with regular old baker's yeast. Through synthetic biology, we engineer our yeast to become milk-protein factories. Our milk proteins are then combined with water and vegan oil to make Vegan Milk which is ultimately converted into Real Vegan Cheese through standard cheese-making processes - just like cheese made from cow or goat milk! In principle, we can make cheese from any animal for which we have a genome sequence - even something as strange as Narwhal whales. And hey, if we can make Narwhal cheese, we 're just one step away from making unicorn cheese!
Kombucha Genomics (every other Tuesday 7pm)
Kombucha is a fermented tea with a very complex symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeasts (SCOBY) , composed of dozens of different species. It's a health food; it's a tasty fizzy caffeinated beverage; it even makes vegan leather - what's not to like! In this project, we study the microbiome of kombucha and other fermented foods, isolate individual bacterial or yeast species, identify them through DNA barcoding, do whole genome sequencing on one or more of them, and then get into genome annotation, metabolic modeling, synthetic biology and more.
This is an excellent project to learn basic laboratory skills, plus we can get into other areas such as material science properties of vegan leather, taste testing and brewing kombucha, kombucha art, maybe even try to trace how starter cultures have been shared between friends across the world!
Kombucha is a fermented tea with a very complex symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeasts (SCOBY) , composed of dozens of different species. It's a health food; it's a tasty fizzy caffeinated beverage; it even makes vegan leather - what's not to like! In this project, we study the microbiome of kombucha and other fermented foods, isolate individual bacterial or yeast species, identify them through DNA barcoding, do whole genome sequencing on one or more of them, and then get into genome annotation, metabolic modeling, synthetic biology and more.
This is an excellent project to learn basic laboratory skills, plus we can get into other areas such as material science properties of vegan leather, taste testing and brewing kombucha, kombucha art, maybe even try to trace how starter cultures have been shared between friends across the world!
Micromitigation Initiative (every other Thursday 7pm)
Micromitigation (also referred to as open panel adsorption) is a citizen science initiative which uses small screened panels of commodity granulated activated carbon. These panels are placed in polluted locations in order to mitigate ambient VOC aerosols. After pollutants are adsorbed, the panels are desorbed (thermally or using microwaves), the contaminants incinerated, and the material is reactivated.
We meet every other Thursday evening at 7pm Pacific Time. Please join us!
Contact: Rebecca E. Skinner
Micromitigation (also referred to as open panel adsorption) is a citizen science initiative which uses small screened panels of commodity granulated activated carbon. These panels are placed in polluted locations in order to mitigate ambient VOC aerosols. After pollutants are adsorbed, the panels are desorbed (thermally or using microwaves), the contaminants incinerated, and the material is reactivated.
We meet every other Thursday evening at 7pm Pacific Time. Please join us!
Contact: Rebecca E. Skinner
Project GRFT
We are the virus busters at Counter Culture Labs and globally. We are a small group of volunteers working on transforming rice to express Griffithsin (GRFT). The resulting nontoxic rice grain can then be stored just like any rice and the griffithsin purified from it by chromatography. Griffithsin is one of the most promising candidates for stopping infection by coronaviruses as well as other viruses so it needs to be made easily available worldwide. If you are interested in volunteering with us, we can use your assistance.
Donations are welcome.
Contact: Project GRFT
We are the virus busters at Counter Culture Labs and globally. We are a small group of volunteers working on transforming rice to express Griffithsin (GRFT). The resulting nontoxic rice grain can then be stored just like any rice and the griffithsin purified from it by chromatography. Griffithsin is one of the most promising candidates for stopping infection by coronaviruses as well as other viruses so it needs to be made easily available worldwide. If you are interested in volunteering with us, we can use your assistance.
Donations are welcome.
Contact: Project GRFT
BioArtBot
BioArtBot's goal is to help more people do - and have fun with - science! At our website, bioartbot.org, you can make pixel-style drawing and submit it to our lab. We then use a liquid handling robot to "print" your drawing with microbes onto a petri dish. Because these microbes have been genetically engineered to produce bright colors, your image will literally grow on the petri dish over the next two days - and we'll send you a picture of it! Why do do we do this? Because it's cool! Learning how life works is awesome, and studying (and playing with) microbes is great way to get started. With the Internet and robotics, more people than ever can explore these concepts. We want to give people that chance, in a fun, playful, and maybe even expressive way.
Learn more and make some bioart at BioArtBot!
BioArtBot's goal is to help more people do - and have fun with - science! At our website, bioartbot.org, you can make pixel-style drawing and submit it to our lab. We then use a liquid handling robot to "print" your drawing with microbes onto a petri dish. Because these microbes have been genetically engineered to produce bright colors, your image will literally grow on the petri dish over the next two days - and we'll send you a picture of it! Why do do we do this? Because it's cool! Learning how life works is awesome, and studying (and playing with) microbes is great way to get started. With the Internet and robotics, more people than ever can explore these concepts. We want to give people that chance, in a fun, playful, and maybe even expressive way.
Learn more and make some bioart at BioArtBot!
Art & Science
Come by CCL at Omni Commons to show, tell and share anything that you are interested in relating to the intersection of art with science, math and engineering.
Do you have a neato thing you've created that you want to show and perhaps get creative feedback?
Do you have an idea of something you would like to build?
Did you see an inspiring video you would like to share and discuss? See the latest ArtSci event scheduled from our CCL Meetup page and join our ArtSci Google group at .
Come by CCL at Omni Commons to show, tell and share anything that you are interested in relating to the intersection of art with science, math and engineering.
Do you have a neato thing you've created that you want to show and perhaps get creative feedback?
Do you have an idea of something you would like to build?
Did you see an inspiring video you would like to share and discuss? See the latest ArtSci event scheduled from our CCL Meetup page and join our ArtSci Google group at .
Covid Chat (Weekly Saturday Mornings 10am-noon)
Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, members of the Counter Culture Labs and BioCurious communities have been hosting a weekly zoom call for anyone interested in reviewing the week's science and news on COVID-19. We welcome your questions and are happy to discuss any articles or news you may have found.
Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, members of the Counter Culture Labs and BioCurious communities have been hosting a weekly zoom call for anyone interested in reviewing the week's science and news on COVID-19. We welcome your questions and are happy to discuss any articles or news you may have found.
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Projects currently on hold (waiting for someone to restart!)
Plant Biology
We are a group of scientists, designers, horticulturalists, and artists with an honest and deep appreciation for the plant kingdom.
Everyone here is a student. If there's something you want to learn, we'll do our best to help you learn it.
Plants are some of the most elegant machines nature provides us. Their systems are capable of nearly infinite growth and the manufacturing of countless useful products. And they look great while doing it!
We are a group of scientists, designers, horticulturalists, and artists with an honest and deep appreciation for the plant kingdom.
Everyone here is a student. If there's something you want to learn, we'll do our best to help you learn it.
Plants are some of the most elegant machines nature provides us. Their systems are capable of nearly infinite growth and the manufacturing of countless useful products. And they look great while doing it!
Mycelial Mass Mushroom Meetup
Engage with a community of fungi lovers who are dedicated to the study and cultivation of mycoflora and share strains, cultivation techniques, and customized agar recipes. Watch pros like Alan Rockefeller DNA sequence new species of mushroom, or jumpstart new cultured varieties of edible and medicinal mushrooms from liquid cultures, agar plates, grow bags, or wild specimens. Learn to use mycelium to make physical objects like bowls and cups, mycofabrics, and biodegradable packing materials. Overall, just join an amazing group of likeminded mycophiles! Check out our meetup page here and like our facebook page here!
Engage with a community of fungi lovers who are dedicated to the study and cultivation of mycoflora and share strains, cultivation techniques, and customized agar recipes. Watch pros like Alan Rockefeller DNA sequence new species of mushroom, or jumpstart new cultured varieties of edible and medicinal mushrooms from liquid cultures, agar plates, grow bags, or wild specimens. Learn to use mycelium to make physical objects like bowls and cups, mycofabrics, and biodegradable packing materials. Overall, just join an amazing group of likeminded mycophiles! Check out our meetup page here and like our facebook page here!
Fermentation Station
This is an herbal mead making class that covers a wide range of related material and ferments. As we progress well be delving into the various special ingredients including rejuvenative herbs and mushrooms, extracts, fortifications, and flavorings, besides enhancing our regular brews.
Weekly Class Series
Each Saturday, a member of CCL will host an hour-and-a-half long class on the topic of their choosing. Classes are open to other CCL members and the general public. A minimal fee to cover supplies and prep time may be requested, however no one will be turned away for lack of funds! Recurring topics include Intro to the Lab and a Synthetic Biology 101 class series.