Sixteen years ago, Genspace was founded in a living room in downtown Brooklyn with a simple but powerful mandate: science should be accessible to everyone.

Not locked behind doors at universities or campuses, but available to anyone with questions, skepticism, and curiosity.

Since then, over ten thousand learners—students, career changers, artists, hobbyists, and entrepreneurs—have walked through our lab doors to explore genetics, bioengineering, and the living materials of our future. They’ve built skills, confidence, and careers. Some went on to launch startups and design studios. Others simply discovered the joy of experimenting at the bench.

But as demand for our programs grows, our space can't keep up.

Across New York City, brilliant perspectives are still being left out of science:

Students in Title I schools who have never touched a pipette.
Career changers who can’t afford traditional biotech degrees.
Artists and designers can’t access the tools to work with living materials.

We’re ready to change that.

By expanding our lab, we can eliminate waiting lists for our membership, add new lab stations for members, and serve 30% more students and adults each year. With more space, we’ll bring science workshops to even more classrooms, support advanced community research projects, and give emerging scientists and creators the tools they need to change the world.

Genspace is the world’s first community biology lab and we’re building a model for what the next generation of science can look like: open and inclusive. Your gift helps us grow from a scrappy experiment into lasting public infrastructure for hands-on science education and discovery.

Together, we can grow the lab that grows possibility.

End-of-year 2025: Grow the Lab