CCL Working Meeting (Every Wednesday 7-8:30pm over Zoom)
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 8:30pm. 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 meetup 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 8:30pm. 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 meetup 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!
[Active] Projects 2024
Open Insulin virtual meetings: Hardware (2nd & 4th Sundays 10:30am)
Science/Lab (Sundays Noon)
Open Insulin's primary purpose and focus is to research and develop the first open source protocols to produce insulin and insulin production hardware simply and economically. Our work is meant to develop an innovative model for generic cost effective production of this life-saving drug in addition to continued research into and conception of low cost manufacturing and distribution models, which are intended to be provided to and adopted by entities who seek to realize lower cost pharmaceutical solutions for the marketplace.
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.
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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! |
Plant Biology (Fridays from 1-2pm)
We are a group of scientists and horticulturalists, 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 research it together! 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 currently working on hydroponics and indoor vertical farming systems for urban agriculture. Contact us by leaving a comment on our recurring Friday Meeting event page on Meetup.
We are a group of scientists and horticulturalists, 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 research it together! 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 currently working on hydroponics and indoor vertical farming systems for urban agriculture. Contact us by leaving a comment on our recurring Friday Meeting event page on Meetup.
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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! Come by to our project meetings |
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!
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!
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yco Mondays (Mondays 3:30-5:30 PM)
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. Extract DNA for ITS region sequencing for Identification of known or 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 Mushroom Meetup Page and like our Facebook Page! |
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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! |
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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.
[Dormant] Rebooting Soon!
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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. |
Weekly Class Series
Every now and then, a member of CCL will host a workshop on the topic of their choosing. Classes are open to other CCL members and the general public.