Football is not the only kickoff happening at high schools in the fall. Two BioBuilder programs also blast off in October – BioBuilderClub and the High School Apprenticeship Challenge. Let’s see what this year’s rosters look like.
BioBuilderClub
The 2026-2027 BioBuilderClub roster has 116 student teams, including returning teams and a whopping 58 new teams! The teams are located across the U.S. and around the world. What’s driving this BioBuilderClub growth, you ask? Several dynamics are at work.
BioBuilderClub Refresher
BioBuilderClub increases student access to authentic tools and approaches for engineering biology. Within biodesign teams, budding scientists develop meaningful projects that address real-world challenges.
In regions that already had a significant number of teams, BioBuilderClub interest has spread primarily by word of mouth. For instance, in the Southeast U.S., participation has grown over the past few years to the point that last year they hosted the first ever Southeast Final Assembly in Atlanta, Georgia. That made it easier for families, friends, and other teachers and students to attend the event. From there, students and teachers introduced BioBuilderClub to other regional schools.
BioBuilderClub is also growing in the Midwest with new teams this year in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. The driving force here includes schools looking for ways to offer new learning and research opportunities to their students. Plus, once teachers participate in BioBuilder’s Teacher Professional Development workshops, they are ready to spread the news within their district and beyond!
BioBuilderClub teams are also located internationally. Check out this interactive map to see the global BioBuilderClub teams.
Partnerships at international schools that have long participated in BioBuilderClub have also generated new teams this year. For example, thanks to a grant, the International School of Boston is beginning a collaboration with students from French high schools. Students helping students, teachers helping teachers!
Check out some of the recent projects BioBuilderClub teams have worked on:
Environment
- Replacing road salt with antifreeze proteins for deicing
- Degrading microplastics with bacteria
Health or Medicine
- Developing a low-cost visual biosensor diagnostic for colorectal cancer
- Designing bioengineered sutures to prevent surgical site infections
Food or Energy
- Producing biofuel from food waste
- Increasing the nutritional content of food crops
- Flavoring yogurt with probiotics
Manufacturing
- Synthetic fabrication of chitosan fibers derived from chitin, a biopolymer with high tensile strength, for use in bulletproof protective gear
See all past projects in our BioBuilderClub Project Library.
Learn more about how to set up a BioBuilderClub team, what the students will learn, and the amazing support you will get from BioBuilder.
High School Apprenticeship Challenge
The Fall 2026 High School Apprenticeship Challenge (HSAC) is off and running! This term’s roster includes 22 students from 12 different high schools across the Greater Boston area. They are so excited to be part of this adventure!
HSAC Refresher
The HSAC is a pre-professional training opportunity that helps high school students build technical knowledge, lab technique skills, research-based thinking, and professional skills to help prepare them for college and/or careers at life science companies.
The apprentices meet twice weekly for eight weeks. Each week includes one after-school online session and one Saturday hands-on lab session.
The online sessions focus on professional skills that these future scientists will need in their careers. The Saturday labs are held at BioBuilder’s Learning Lab @Allston Labworks where the apprentices explore the BioTechBuilder curriculum and conduct hands-on bioscience projects.
During the final week, students will have the opportunity to demonstrate their new skills to earn industry-aligned microcredentials.
Interest in the HSAC continues to grow as more students and teachers learn about the program. This term’s pool of HSAC applicants had 90 students applying for roughly one-quarter of that many open spots. And boy, was it difficult to narrow it down to 22 apprentices from so many outstanding high schoolers!
The applicants are evaluated based on their interest in bioscience, qualities expressed in their applications, and teacher recommendations. Keys include a strong curiosity in bioscience, a desire to grow and apply their learning beyond the classroom, and an ability to thrive in challenging environments – all essential skills for success in the HSAC program and beyond.
“Through the BioBuilder Apprenticeship, I hope to develop the technical skills and creativity to be able to tackle and contribute to innovations that make healthcare more effective and accessible.”
—student
Due to the high level of interest, we had to decline admission to many bright, promising students. But we are happy to report that many of them are determined to apply for the Spring 2027 HSAC cohort.
“I hope to gain more hands-on experience in science and learn what scientific research looks like from outside of the classroom, and getting to see how a lab works for the first time. I would love to develop new skills, learn from others, and better understand how science can help solve real-world problems.”
—student
We’re as excited as the students to see their successes over the next eight weeks!
Catch Up with BioBuilder!
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Welcome, Rey and Rachael!
BioBuilder is happy to welcome two new team members to the BioBuilder family.
Rey Katz, Web and Digital Strategy Manager
Rey is a strategist and systems builder with 15 years of experience, both hands-on and in technical leadership. They grow nonprofit digital presences through web, marketing, and automation systems. Rey earned a bachelor’s degree in physics from MIT and is also an award-winning writer published in HuffPost and other outlets.
Since starting with BioBuilder, Rey has been busy helping build digital tools such as the Cost Calculator, BioBuilderClub Library, and webpages to support the BioBuilder team, teachers, and students. Rey describes their aspirations for BioBuilder:
“I aspire to keep building tools that save the team time and help more teachers bring BioBuilder into their classrooms. I’m so grateful to work with such an amazing organization and to contribute to science education for real world success.”
Welcome Rey!
Rachael Hamilton, Massachusetts Curriculum Manager
Rachael earned her BA in Chemistry from Scripps College (2016), her MPH in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from Boston University (2020), and her MS in Biomedical Science from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (2023). Her research spans organometallic synthesis, immunologic responses to parasitic infection, and molecular host–virus interactions across academic and biotechnology settings.
As the Massachusetts Curriculum Manager, Rachael is busy refining protocols, tools, and feedback systems that support student growth while remaining accessible to teachers and schools. Her aspiration for her BioBuilder work is simple and deeply personal:
“to make a meaningful difference in at least one student’s scientific journey—whether through a workshop, a classroom interaction, or one on one mentoring—just as my own teachers did for me.”
We are happy to have you on the team, Rachael!