It’s been one year since the official opening of BioBuilder’s new Learning Lab @Allston! During the past 12 months there have been many excited students, teachers, and community professionals coming to the lab to “learn and do” biotechnology.
Check out this roundup of highlights of the past year at the Learning Lab @Allston.
Grand Opening
The Learning Lab @Allston officially opened on February 28, 2025. That day included a ribbon cutting ceremony where BioBuilder staff, students, and supporters, and 49 members of the Boston community and businesses gathered to celebrate the new facility.
The lab is located on the ground floor of the new Allston Labworks building in Boston’s Allston neighborhood. Allston Labworks is a mixed-use campus with state-of-the-art research labs, residential and retail spaces, and over an acre of public open space, making it a hub for both life science companies and the Allston community. The 2,000 ft2 Learning Lab is a fully equipped bioengineering lab and teaching space that provides a welcoming environment for hands-on engagement with biotech learning and workforce training.
The Allston Lab offers ongoing BioBuilder programming and workforce training programs to provide local students, educators, and incumbent workers with hands-on experience for 21st century biotechnology. Programs include specialty seminars and workshops for STEM professionals in addition to engaging modules to build scientific understanding in DNA and protein analysis, biomanufacturing, and synthetic biology through at-the-bench training, lab practicals, and peer-to-peer learning.
Capital equipment for the Learning Lab was made possible through more than $630,000 of funding through the Massachusetts Life Science Center’s (MLSC) STEM Equipment and Professional Development Grant Program. The Learning Lab @Allston is truly a community asset for today and for building the future!
The Boston Business Journal featured the new Learning Lab in an article titled “New Allston lab will train high schoolers to work in biomanufacturing.” Check it out to learn more about the new lab and Allston campus!
Teacher Training Workshop
In May, BioBuilder held its first teacher training workshops at the new Learning Lab. The teachers completed hands-on lab work alongside a group of students to learn the “ins and outs” of the procedures. Teachers recognize this as the best way for them to learn how they can best help their students conduct the same labs and learn the bioscience behind them. A total mix of 56 students, teachers, and BioBuilder instructors took part in the workshops.
During the workshops, BioBuilder filmed the teachers conducting the labs and helping students do the labs. The videos are being used as part of teacher professional development workshops for BioTechBuilder, BioBuilder’s newest curriculum.
Expedition: Bio
In July, BioBuilder hosted 48 Expedition: Bio students at the Learning Lab @Allston. Expedition: Bio is a forward-thinking program of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research (WIBR) that helps introduce middle schoolers to synthetic biology and, hopefully, get them interested in learning more as they proceed through middle school, high school, and beyond.
BioBuilder partnered with WIBR to provide their summer campers with additional classroom learning as well as hands-on lab learning during the second week of their two-week program.
Summer Research Program
In late July, 20 Boston area students completed BioBuilder’s Summer Research Program at the Learning Lab @Allston. The students received full scholarships to attend thanks to a generous donor and the James B. Boskey Memorial Foundation, a philanthropic family foundation.
BioBuilder’s Dr. Hiroko Kaczmarek led them through the two-week immersive program where students developed their lab skills and learned how to design a synthetic biology system while working in teams to design their own projects.
“I am just impressed and awed by these young scholars,” says Dr. Kaczmarek. “Some have a very long commute yet always show up on time and ready to learn.”
On August 1st, the teams presented their biodesign projects to a gathering of families and friends, as well as local science professionals and BioBuilder team members. It was a great celebration for the students and for the supporters who had been cheering them on!
Boston Program and Outreach Manager
In September, Mr. Evon Thompson joined BioBuilder as the new Manager of Boston Programs and Outreach. Evon studied Neuroscience and Global Health & Health Policy at Harvard College, where he researched the effects of early-life stress on neurodevelopment.
Evon is dedicated to making science education accessible to youth from all backgrounds and is eager to empower students and educators through his work at BioBuilder.
High Schoolers + CRISPR = Real Life Learning
In October and November 2025, BioBuilder taught a group of 19 seniors from Beaver Country Day School to run CRISPR and other advanced biotechnology workflows. The students are enrolled in their school’s honors-level “Advanced Biology – Molecular Research Techniques” course which includes hands-on use of CRISPR technology, a crucial tool used in today’s synthetic biology industry.
The students spent six consecutive Fridays at the Allston Lab where they conducted an experiment that used CRISPR to edit a specific gene in yeast cells that, if successful, would cause the cells to turn red. The team did not get red colonies initially. So, their next step was troubleshooting by modifying the protocol and designing a new donor DNA. This do-learn-revise sequence is just what biotechnologists do as they look for bio-based solutions to real-life needs.
BioBuilder is excited to work with Boston-area schools and help them offer their students cutting edge biotech learning!
High School Apprenticeship Challenge
For the first time, BioBuilder’s High School Apprenticeship Challenge (HSAC) program met at the Allston Lab in the fall 2025. The HSAC is a pre-professional training opportunity in which high school students build technical knowledge, lab techniques, research-based thinking, and professional skills.
From October through December, 20 students met in the lab on Saturdays to build hands-on professional lab skills to accompany their Thursday online learning sessions.
The HSAC Closing Ceremony was held on December 13 at the Learning Lab. The students were joined by family, friends, instructors, and other supporters who honored the hard-working students. In all, 23 students from 15 Boston area high schools completed the rigorous 8-week program and received their Certificates of Completion. Way to go!
Other Workshops
BioBuilder has hosted other workshops at the Allston Lab during the past year. The students included 48 high schoolers from China and 11 Boston area middle schoolers.
The Learning Lab @Allston is a wonderful facility for biotech learning for middle and high school students to working professionals and more!
To date, the Learning Lab @Allston has welcomed 305 students, teachers, and other visitors, and has provided 178 hours of instruction over 45 days in the lab. We can’t wait to see what this year holds!
Up Next
More bioscience learning is on the horizon at the Learning Lab @Allston.
On March 20, BioBuilder is supporting the Harvard Ed-Portal Pi Day STEM Experience for 8th grade students in the Allston-Brighton community. The students will be visiting the Allston Lab for an engaging and meaningful hands-on learning experience.
The Spring 2026 HSAC is also getting ready to kick off with 24 students participating. The program will run from March 14 through May 9, 2026. Students will gain hands-on laboratory training, career exploration, and professional skills development, as well as the opportunity to earn industry recognized microcredentials.
Who could ask for more? Evon Thompson! With Evon at the wheel, the impact of the Allston Lab continues to grow. We are so happy to have him on our team!
Thinking Back, Looking Ahead
While we’re in a reflective frame of mind, we want to highlight two other important BioBuilder endeavors, one completed recently and an exciting new one!
Reflecting On BioBuilder’s Work in Tennessee
In January 2026, BioBuilder published a white paper that is getting much appreciation and support. The paper is titled, Building the Bioeconomy from the Classroom Up: The East Tennessee Model.
As the title says, the paper lays out a blueprint that other regions of the country can follow to build a biotechnology hub in rural areas that are not traditionally seen as STEM strongholds. It describes step by step how East Tennessee school districts, industry, and other stakeholders began small and scaled up through strategic partnerships.
Most importantly, it describes how their local students embraced the advanced science they suddenly had access to, and how it is impacting their lives, communities, and nation for the good.
You can download the white paper here — just prepare to be amazed at what you learn!
Looking Ahead
BioBuilder is on the cusp of an exciting new project in partnership with Transfyr.ai. Here’s the full scoop:
Across the country, high school and postsecondary students are eager to engage with real science but too often lack access to laboratories, mentors, or feedback on the hands-on skills that make biotechnology both human and transformative. These challenges mirror the inequities that AI now has the potential either to deepen or to solve.
Through this initiative, BioBuilder and its partner, Transfyr, will establish an AI tool to guide, assess, and credential laboratory competencies that have historically been passed on only through in-person apprenticeship. The approach scales the intimacy of scientific mentorship, namely “see one, do one, teach one,” so that every student and teacher, regardless of zip code or income, can gain the skills and confidence to participate in the bioeconomy.
This work is being supported by NEO Philanthropy and a private, corporate foundation. We thank them both for their support in training the bioscientists of tomorrow!
