Ellen Jorgensen

I am a passionate believer in the power of citizen science and distributed biotechnology. Since 2011 I’ve provided hands-on biotechnology lab training to the general public and taught hundreds of adults and students the joy of genetic engineering for the good of the world. After earning a Ph.D. in Cell & Molecular Biology from New York University I spent over 30 years in the biotechnology industry. In 2009 I became aware of the DIYbio movement and cofounded Genspace, a community biolab in Brooklyn that was named one of the World's Top 10 Innovative Companies in Education. I’ve been privileged to be a SynbioLEAP fellow, receive a Shuttleworth Foundation Flash Grant, be an alumni of the Amsterdam School of Creative Leadership THNK, be the founding Education Committee Chair of the GP-write consortium to construct a human genome, and be named by Fast Company magazine as one of their Most Creative Leaders in Business. My efforts to develop innovative ways to support citizen participation in science have been chronicled by Nature Medicine, Science, Discover Magazine, Wired, Make, BBC News, Dan Rather Reports, PBS News Hour, The Discovery Channel, and The New York Times. My passion for science in the service of humanity can be seen in my TED talks, “Biohacking: You Can Do It Too” and “What You Need To Know About CRISPR” .

Currently I spend most of my time at Biotech Without Borders, a 501(c)3 nonprofit community lab in Queens, NY that I founded in 2017 with a mission to democratize biotechnology at the grassroots level. This is where the project work will be done.

June 2023