About The Baltimore Underground Science Space

BUGSS is a non-profit public laboratory offering classes, seminars, and lab access so that anyone can safely and affordably investigate the living world. We are a community of amateurs, professionals, citizen
scientists, activists, and artists exploring biotechnology through scientific and artistic investigations. We hope to serve as a space for open dialogue, and “learning through doing” as Synthetic Biology and new biological technologies become more relevant to our everyday lives. As with any new technology, there are big hopes and big fears, and public debate is often heated and uninformed. By democratizing these technologies we hope to facilitate more nuanced dialogue and exploration of the incredible potential, as well as limitations and ethical issues.

Our Amazing Staff & Board

Tom Burkett

Chair of the Board

Professor at Community College of Baltimore County

Lisa Scheifele

Executive Director and Board Member

Associate Professor of Biology at Loyola University Maryland

Anne Hamburger

Board Member

Professor(Retired) University of Maryland

Michael Johnson

Board Member

Senior Manager at DSM

Joel Tyson

Board Member

Graduate Assistant University of Maryland Baltimore County

Nina Rajpurohit

Board Member

Staff Scientist I Lieber Institute for Brain Development

Linda Saffer

Board Member

Biologist and Advocate for Young Women in Biosciences

Jennifer Winters

Board Member

Language Arts Teacher at Carver Vocational-Technical High School