'Biohackers' Get Their Own Space to Create

Silicon Valley has sprouted numerous "hacker spaces" in recent years, where software geeks get together to program and build new Web creations. Now there's a hangout for "biohackers," too.

BioCurious, a 2,500-square-foot community lab in a low-slung office building in Sunnyvale, opened in November as a place where scientists, entrepreneurs and others can meet to conduct biology experiments and innovate on everything from bacteria to thermal cyclers. The facility also offers classes on topics ranging from DNA sequencing to microfluidics.

So far, the lab has attracted about 30 members who shell out $100 a month for use of the facility, says Raymond McCauley, one of half a dozen co-founders of BioCurious and the chief science officer of genomics start-up Genomera. At some point, he adds, the nonprofit may also launch a for-profit incubator program to cultivate and fund biotechnology start-ups.