Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak built the first Apple computer in Jobs’s garage, while Sergey
Brin and Larry Page built Google at a friend’s house. In recent decades, the paradigm-
shifting innovations of big companies like these have emerged from DIY scientists.
They took established technology – used by research institutes and government agencies –
and transformed it into accessible and socially relevant tools. Garages and basements were
home to the consumer technology revolution of the late 1970s, and continue to be the
centre of the citizen science movement today as it expands to new fields.
The emerging field of synthetic biology has mobilised a group of professional and amateur
scientists, endeavouring to bring the lab into our homes. DIY scientists are attempting bold
feats of genetic engineering, drug development, and biotech research in makeshift home
laboratories.
This is possible due to two factors:
1. Rapidly-declining cost of DNA sequencing and synthesis
2. The ability of the scientists themselves to assemble their own lab equipment.
This assembly model costs a fraction of retail products, taking advantage of 3D
printing technology and DIY electronics.
The enthusiasm for DIY science has led to the creation of almost a hundred community labs
across the world. These labs offer the tools, equipment and expertise necessary for anyone
to launch projects regardless of their skill level or background. They act as co-working spaces
and centres for fostering innovation and collaboration, both within the lab and with other
labs, creating a global network of shared skills, initiatives and resources. This push towards
democratisation puts individuals at the centre of the movement, meaning that the potential
for change is only restricted by their own ingenuity and drive.
Like garage hacking of computer technology decades earlier, synthetic biology has the same
potential for immeasurable social and economic progress, mainly through its applications in
agriculture, biotechnology and healthcare. In particular, it is the effort to create cheap,
accessible equipment and procedures that has proved most impactful at a global scale. As a
result, start-ups are emerging from these basement labs, demonstrating the potential of
citizen-driven innovation when applied to some of the most misaddressed medical problems.