Team Bio

The BioArtBot team has collectively been working in community biology for more than 20 years, and have collaborated formally and informally with each other for almost as long. Based on our shared passion for accessibility, knowledge sharing, and the joyful practice of science, we are excited to again come together on this project to serve our local communities, as well as the greater global Community Science movement.

Tim Dobbs

Tim Dobbs is a scientist and automation engineer with more than 15 years experience working with biological systems in labs, factories, and kitchens. He has been working in community science since 2017, when he founded BioArtBot at Counter Culture Labs, an Oakland, California-based community science lab emphasizing open access and educational opportunities. In 2021, Dobbs received international recognition for his work on BioArtBot, as a fellow at the Learning Planet Institute in Paris. He has a passion for open-source science, with the goal of empowering the world to "talk" to microbes with automated tools. Dobbs holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Connecticut and an MS in Microbiology from the Université de Paris Cité.

Daniel Chan

Danny Chan holds a BS and MS in microbiology from the University of Waterloo and University of Chiago respectively. He has been a research technician for many years in multiple fields including protein crystallography and prefrontal cortex development. He also worked as a medical editor, fact
checking pharmaceutical ads in an agency. The common set of skills
underlying his practice are molecular biology, non-hierarchical community participation, and scientific inquiry which he is committed to employ in support of radical communities rooted in justice and
scholarship. To these ends he is a board member at Biotech Without Borders (BwoB), a Ronin Institute scholar, as well as a member of the Free Rads, and Translate Science. In 2021 he was a Global Community Biosummit Fellow.

Corinne Okada Takara

Corinne Okada Takara is a community art activist and STEAM educator who creates programs that elevate and empower community voices in conversations centered on identity, place, science, and technology. She is a Yonsei (4th generation) kama'aina settler who lives on Oahu. For over twenty years her passion for accessible STEAM learning anchored in cultural and community science knowledge has driven her to collaboratively develop programs with museums, libraries, and community organizations. She is a co-founder of BioJam Camp, a teen program anchored in both Salinas and the Stanford Department of Bioengineering, served as the Program Director of the community biolab Xinampa in Salinas, California, and is co-founder of the youth Art & Design Thinking Camp in East San José, California. Her frugal science tool and biomaterial design research is conducted in her garage and in her Nest Makerspace shed.

Takara has received State, National, and International recognition for her work straddling art and biology including fellowships and residencies such as the Ginkgo Bioworks Creative Residency, a Lucas Artist Residency at Montalvo Arts Center, 2020 Global Community Biosummit Fellowship, and a 2020 National Public Interest Technology Innovation Fellowship. She has led four high school teams in the International Biodesign Challenge for which she was honored with the 2019 Outstanding Instructor Award. She is a recipient of the inaugural 2023 Ka Maka ʻĪnana Think Tank Grant from Purple Mai’a.

Takara holds a BA in Design from Stanford University and is an alumni of the Hawai’i Purple Mai’a Ka Maka I’nana program.. http://www.okadadesign.com/ & https://nestmakerspace.weebly....