The Mark and Lisa Schwartz Auditorium at the Ragon Institute at MIT was abuzz on March 13th with the 2025 BioBuilderClub Final Assembly!
This year’s “grads” and their teachers, mentors, families, and guests gathered to celebrate the accomplishments of these amazing biodesign students, and to see the innovative biotechnology projects they have been working on since last October.
BioBuilderClub provides students with access to professional-level tools and approaches for engineering biology. Within biodesign teams, these budding scientists develop meaningful projects that address real-world challenges, and this year’s class did not disappoint!
Student Innovation and Commitment on Display
Thirty-four student teams from the U.S. and around the globe began their five-month adventure in the fall of 2024. They worked diligently to design professional-level biotechnology projects addressing real-world challenges. Their 54 projects ranged from environmental remediation strategies to improved human disease treatments, novel renewable energy sources, and more.
Each team’s work will soon be added to the BioBuilderClub Project Library, so be sure you bookmark this link for near-future reference!
The teams worked on their projects at their own schools with the help of a professional mentor who is a practicing bioengineer, and extra materials provided by BioBuilder supporters:
- A coupon from Carolina Biological Supply Company for $100 in general lab supplies
- Free reagents from New England Biolabs
- Entry every month into a drawing to receive a cold-storage unit from K2 Scientific
Time to Shine at the Final Assembly!
On March 13, 2025, the teams presented their projects during a poster session where guests and other teams could learn about the projects and ask questions of the teams. Teams that could not attend in-person were still able to present their projects virtually.
The teams were also invited to give a one-minute “lightning talk” about their work to the entire audience in a lecture hall setting. They did such a great job in that brief one-minute timeframe!
Check out video highlights of this year’s Celebration and enjoy all the smiles you see on the faces of these amazing students and their families!
Congratulations to the 2025 BioBuilderClub teams and students for their dedication and phenomenal work!
Thanks also to our wonderful supporters who recognize the importance of encouraging the scientists of tomorrow!
If you haven’t done it yet, please find a way to join our growing community of BioBuilders. You can visit our new Learning Lab, participate in our new BioTechBuilder training, or find even more news and opportunities on our new website!
2025 High School Apprenticeship Challenge Kickoff
An excited group of 44 high school students burst out of the starting gate on March 15th as this year’s High School Apprenticeship Challenge kicked off!
The Challenge prepares these students for scientific careers, and many of them will go on to use the skills they learn in a summer internship at Boston area research labs and companies.
The students, who are from Boston and Worcester, MA, high schools, meet twice weekly through May 10th. The entire group meets online on Thursdays for two hours of learning about biotech concepts and skills from Joe Switzer. They also enjoy Career Conversations with practicing scientists who share their experience and wisdom with these aspiring scientists.
On Saturdays, students meet in-person for five hours of hands-on learning and lab skills development. The 23 students from the Boston area meet at BioBuilder’s Learning Lab @Ginkgo with Dr. Hiroko Kaczmarek. The 21 Worcester area students meet at Clark University with Maryam Riyazi.
The hands-on skills the students learn in the lab prepare them to test for BCSI micro-credentials on the last day of the program. Working and learning together also helps students build their professional and collaborative skills.
We are so excited for these Apprentices and can’t wait to share their successes in a future post!
