Join_the_hivemind

Plug into the movement.

Biopunk started in San Francisco and it's built to spread. Here's the crew running it, the tribunal that judges it, the partners fueling it — and the global network of community labs that could host the next edition.

The_crew

Who runs Biopunk

The organizers behind the San Francisco editions — a mix of scientists, builders, and community-lab operators working out of Frontier Tower.

ER
Elliot Roth
Founder / host

Drives the Biopunk Community and the hackathon series; host across the SF editions.

@thatmre · San Francisco
MK
Max Koko
Host, Biopunk Hackathon

Co-organized the 10-day June 2025 Biopunk Hackathon.

@maxkokocom · San Francisco
BL
Byron P. Lee
Host, BioViz 2025

Organized the AI × Biology × Art hackathon on ECM imaging for aging; runs BioBitWorks.

@biobitworks · San Francisco
EM
Erin Magennis
Host, Biopunk DeSci

Organized the DeSci buildathon at the intersection of synbio, web3, and open science.

@erinmagennis · San Francisco
MH
Morgan Hough
Host, Biopunk DeSci

Co-organized the DeSci edition; neuro/open-science community builder.

@mhough · San Francisco
BC
Biopunk Community Lab
The wet lab

The community BSL-1 lab network (with Cellsius) providing the bench, the gear, and the safety backbone.

biopunklab.com · San Francisco
The_tribunal

Past judges

The ones who decide if your experiment deserves to evolve. Judges from the 2026 Human Enhancement edition — founders and investors from the frontier of biotech.

MV
Mathieu Van Giel
Founder @ Wasna

Lab-grown blood platelets.

LongevityGenetic EngMed Devices
AH
Abigail Holland
Founder @ Veya

Biometrics for women.

NeurotechBiometricsBCI
AA
Akash Arunabharathi
Founder @ BroadcastBio

Reading cellular broadcasts.

BiosecurityMLProtein Design
LP
Leigh Purnell
Founder @ Petalite

Angel investor & double world-record holder.

Enterprise BioCleantechCharter Cities
MK
Michal Kubis
Investor @ superhuman.fund

Hosts the AccBio.xyz podcast.

Angel InvestingBiometricsEntrepreneurship
Go_global

Who could host the next one

To take Biopunk worldwide you need labs and organizers. These are independent leaders in the community-bio movement whose work aligns with the mission — listed as an outreach map, not as confirmed partners. Two hubs unlock dozens of hosts at once:

DK
David Sun Kong
Global Community Bio Summit · MIT Media Lab

Founded the annual gathering of the world's community biolabs, 100+ countries — the best single node to recruit wet-lab hosts globally.

SA
Soufiane Aboulhouda
Nucleate

Co-founded the student-run biotech founder network — 900+ trainees, 20+ chapters worldwide. A ready-made organizing engine.

North America
CL
Casey Lardner
Exec Director, Genspace

Runs the world's first community biotech lab (NYC).

New York City
EJ
Ellen Jorgensen
Founder, Biotech Without Borders

Community-biotech pioneer; hands-on biotech for all.

New York City
TK
Tony Kulesa
Co-founder, Petri (Pillar VC)

Founded MIT's BioMakerspace; runs a bio accelerator.

Boston
Europe
TL
Thomas Landrain
La Paillasse · JOGL

Founded France's largest biohackerspace + a global open-science platform.

Paris
LH
Luc Henry
Co-founder, Hackuarium

Built an EPFL-adjacent DIYbio lab for open research.

Lausanne
JM
Jenny Molloy
Open Bioeconomy Lab · GOSH

Open-source enzymes & hardware for distributed biomanufacturing.

Cambridge, UK
Asia-Pacific · Latin America · Africa
MM
Meow-Ludo Meow-Meow
Co-founder, BioFoundry

Australia's first open-access community bio lab.

Sydney
GT
Georg Tremmel
Co-founder, BioClub Tokyo

Japan's leading open biolab; hands-on educator.

Tokyo
GO
Geoffrey Otim
Founder, SynBio Africa

Built Africa's first synbio community (400+ scientists).

Uganda
FF
Fernán Federici
Co-founder, Reclone

Open reagent/enzyme toolkits across 13 LatAm countries.

Santiago, Chile

// full contact-ready list, sources & outreach sequence live in the separate outreach doc.

Backed_by

Partners & in-kind fuel

Real Biopunk partners, plus the mature biotech in-kind roster that makes "free to enter, get paid to win" possible.

Frontier TowerVenue & frontier-tech ecosystem
Pilgrim LabsBiosecurity track sponsor
SeanomeWorkshops & science partner
Light.bioGlowing-plant prizes
Asimov PressBooks & science writing
MuseMatrixDeSci research fellowship
Causality NetworkProvenance for science data
Vitalist BayLongevity community
Twist · IDT · NEBDNA & reagents (in-kind)
Benchling · AddgeneSoftware & plasmids (in-kind)
Plasmidsaurus · NanoporeSequencing (in-kind)
AWS · GCP · ModalCompute credits (in-kind)

// biotech in-kind names are illustrative targets based on public sponsorship/education programs.

Plug_in

Four ways to plug in

🧫

Host

Run a lab or a chapter? Take the playbook and bring an edition to your city.

Host kit →
🤝

Partner

Give DNA, reagents, sequencing, compute, or equipment time — meet the builders first.

Sponsor tiers →
⚗️

Judge / mentor

Founders, PIs, operators: give a shift on demo day or hold office hours during the week.

Judging →
🧬

Build

Just want to hack? Jump in the Discord and come to the next edition.

Discord →

Put your city on the map.

Drop your email and where you are. We'll follow up with a lab lead, a starter sponsor list, and the founding-host network.

// prototype form · connect to your own list before launch