Episodes
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Are you ready to have your mind expanded by the ingenuity of STEM education? Prepare to be inspired as Zeeshan talks with the dynamic Billy Carrier from Volunteer High School, a public school located in Church Hill, TN serving about 1000 students in grades 9-12. There Billy is trailblazing the "BioSTEM" program. This isn't your average biology class; it's a revolutionary approach that combines the intricacies of freshman biology with career exploration through hands-on technical training. His class gives students a chance to both enhance their understanding of the living world and also get equipped with the skills that can jumpstart their careers in laboratory sciences. Billy's BioSTEM curriculum is evolving to meet educational standards without sacrificing the depth of scientific understanding and is expanding to more schools in East Tennessee.
As if merging biology and skills-training wasn't innovative enough, Billy also gives an inside look at how BioBuilder and the STREAMWORKS Robot Drone League recently paired up to offer another novel and engaging learning experience. Picture students competing on an agricultural playing field in a challenge that combines biology, robots, and drones.
This episode is a fusion of exploration, competition, and real-world application, all through the lens of a teacher who's at the forefront of molding the scientific minds of tomorrow.Learn more about BioBuilder's programs for students, educators, and industry professionals here 👉 https://biobuilder.org/
And follow BioBuilder on social media:
https://www.facebook.com/BioBuilderFoundation/
https://twitter.com/SystemsSally
https://www.youtube.com/@BioBuilder
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Ever wondered how a high school fascination can ignite a lifelong passion for science and medicine? Zeeshan's conversation with Susana Donkor explores her early days, marked by influential encounters and pivotal experiences, to her current cutting-edge work at Aurion Biotech. Susana shares her journey with heartfelt candor, reflecting on the profound early influence of educational shows and the empowering story of Ben Carson's "Gifted Hands," which sowed the seeds for her aspirations in neuroscience. The dialogue uncovers the power of mentorship and educational programs like BioBuilder and H-Prep, illustrating how they shape the futures of students from diverse backgrounds, and highlighting Susana's transformative experience with BioBuilder that helped chart her course into the world of science.
As we celebrate the season finale, we unveil the layers of Susana's academic and professional evolution, from the BioBuilder apprenticeship's impact on her educational trajectory to her 'big girl' science job and her impressive ascent to an associate scientist role at Aurion Biotech. Susana's narrative is one of dedication and curiosity, as she discusses the transition from academia to industry and the invaluable lessons of accountability and learning from mistakes. Her current adventures include pioneering work on cell line production and clinical trials for corneal endothelial diseases, showcasing not only her remarkable achievements but also serving as an inspiration for the scientists of tomorrow. Join us for an episode that not only celebrates past accomplishments but also shines a light on the boundless opportunities awaiting those with a passion for science.Learn more about BioBuilder's programs for students, educators, and industry professionals here 👉 https://biobuilder.org/
And follow BioBuilder on social media:
https://www.facebook.com/BioBuilderFoundation/
https://twitter.com/SystemsSally
https://www.youtube.com/@BioBuilder
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Missing episodes?
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Ever wondered how high school curiosity can evolve into a successful career in biotechnology? In this podcast, our guest Tara Peterson shares her unique story of how her high school apprenticeship program at BioBuilder shaped her career. Listen as she reveals the differences between her high school classroom and the BioBuilder program, and the program played a crucial role in kick-starting her journey into a college STEM major and now a career in science.
Tara reveals how her work with BioBuilder, including a poster presentation, paved the way for an internship at LabCentral, opening up even more exciting opportunities in her career. Tara majored in neuroscience systems and behavior Temple University, but found her first job depended on her knowledge, confidence, and love for the techniques she learned at BioBuilder.
In our final discussions, Tara provides a detailed look into her experiences in synthetic biology and lab operations at LabCentral. She shares her insights about the projects she worked on, and how her journey from high school to college has shaped her career at Novartis. Tara's story is an inspiration for young scientists, demonstrating how the right experiences can build confidence and shape a successful career in biotechnology.Learn more about BioBuilder's programs for students, educators, and industry professionals here 👉 https://biobuilder.org/
And follow BioBuilder on social media:
https://www.facebook.com/BioBuilderFoundation/
https://twitter.com/SystemsSally
https://www.youtube.com/@BioBuilder
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Get ready to be inspired by our extraordinary guest, Yesenia Collins. A pivotal figure in her school's BioBuilderClub, Yesenia takes us along on her captivating journey, from her initial introduction to synthetic biology to her innovative projects at Tyngsborough High School. Can you imagine the thrill of manipulating organisms to produce novel scents or even creating a world of vibrant microbial colors? Yesenia did just that in the Smell Lab and What a Colorful World Lab. Yet, it wasn't all smooth sailing - grappling with complex concepts like PCR and understanding plasmids posed significant challenges. But with unrelenting determination, she not only persevered with her first project but also embraced an additional venture.
But what can this world of synthetic biology mean for career paths? For Yesenia, it's everything! Our discussion uncovers the profound influence the BioBuilder program has had on her future aspirations. Driven to major in biochemistry and pursue a career in pharmaceutical research, Yesenia credits much of her ambition to the experiences and knowledge gained through BioBuilder. And as a student ambassador for the program, she's not stopping there. Listen in as she shares her exciting plans for the upcoming year at Georgia Tech. So, buckle up and join us on this enlightening expedition through the world of synthetic biology, led by one of this field's promising young talents.Learn more about BioBuilder's programs for students, educators, and industry professionals here 👉 https://biobuilder.org/
And follow BioBuilder on social media:
https://www.facebook.com/BioBuilderFoundation/
https://twitter.com/SystemsSally
https://www.youtube.com/@BioBuilder
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https://www.linkedin.com/company/16132078 -
Imagine transforming high school biology education by integrating synthetic biology into the curriculum, igniting students' passion for learning and preparing them for future success. How do you make this possible? This BioBuilder podcast focuses on two extraordinary biology teachers, Amanda Blackburn and Evie Lafollette, who share their inspiring journey of bringing synthetic biology to Dobbins Bennett High School in Tennessee.
Amanda and Evie discuss their BioBuilder training experience in Boston where they discovered this synbio curriculum and its incredible opportunities for their students. From developing unique passions to exploring groundbreaking fields like organism engineering, this episode explores how the BioBuilder curriculum prepares students for AP Capstone research, teaching them independence and essential life skills. We also delve into the exciting evolution of genetic engineering, from Gregor Mendel's discoveries to today's synthetic biology advancements.
In this captivating conversation, Amanda and Evie share how the BioBuilder curriculum fosters resilience and critical thinking in their students. Learn how they encourage students with diverse learning abilities to pursue their interests, develop their projects, and adapt to unexpected changes. Discover the cutting-edge technology they use, such as CRISPR, to better understand the engineering process and position their students for future achievements. This episode is a must-listen for anyone passionate about education and unlocking the potential of the next generation.Learn more about BioBuilder's programs for students, educators, and industry professionals here 👉 https://biobuilder.org/
And follow BioBuilder on social media:
https://www.facebook.com/BioBuilderFoundation/
https://twitter.com/SystemsSally
https://www.youtube.com/@BioBuilder
https://www.instagram.com/systems_sally/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/16132078 -
Rachael Smyers was part of the 2019 BioBuilder High School Apprenticeship Challenge that was held at LabCentral. The program’s “learning by doing” approach attracted her to it, especially since she got what she felt was a late start in the Vocational Technical Program at Medford High School. Starting there in her junior year, she spent mornings taking 3 or 4 traditional high school classes (English, History…) and the afternoons in Biotech Shop, learning lab skills like pipetting, prepping buffers, running gels, and culturing mouse cells.
In this interview Rachael talks about how the BioBuilder Apprenticeship program let her connect with students she would not have otherwise met, helped her practice technical skills, and taught her more about the science behind laboratory techniques. The program let her, “see the science world outside of the classroom while still inside the classroom.” The Apprenticeship program led directly to a summer internship with one of BioBuilder’s industry partners, Indigo Ag, and thanks to a successful summer there, Rachael continued as year 'round employee, working on agricultural biotechnology through her two years at Bunker Hill Community College and her Junior year at University of Massachusetts – Lowell.
Learn more about BioBuilder's programs for students, educators, and industry professionals here 👉 https://biobuilder.org/
And follow BioBuilder on social media:
https://www.facebook.com/BioBuilderFoundation/
https://twitter.com/SystemsSally
https://www.youtube.com/@BioBuilder
https://www.instagram.com/systems_sally/
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Lyle Musesengwa is a high school sophomore at Dobyns-Bennet HS, a rural school in Kingsport, TN, near the Appalachian Mountains. His school has strong STEM offerings, including the MATE Underwater Robotics competition, as well as nationally recognized Marching Band program.
Lyle was born in Cape Town, South Africa and came to the US as a 4 year old. In this podcast Lyle notes that he can’t remember a time he wasn’t asking questions. His interest in synthetic biology began in 5th grade – even though he didn’t know that’s what it was called, when he learned about how animals adapt to their environment and wondered how to increase the efficiency of that process. His teacher pointed that techniques exist to change the biology of systems, and he know it was something he wanted to pursue.
Introduced to BioBuilder when it was added to biology curriculum in 9th grade, Lyle was especially taken with the BioBuilder Idea Accelerator. The program has an impact for at least two reasons. First is because it was the first time he got to choose an issue to study based on what mattered to him – in his case he chose climate change and tried to design an organism that can reduce greenhouse gases. He and his team are still working on this project a year later, presenting their project idea at Bioeconomy Symposium at ETSU in October 2022 to local business and entrepreneurs and got feedback.
The second impact he sees from BioBuilder is how the program made him realize that when he is working inside in a laboratory, it is to solve a problem that exists outside the lab in the world. To further this interest of his, he has sent a “strongly worded email” to his school principals, lobbying them to bring a BioBuilderClub to Dobyns-Bennett High School. They are working on starting for next year.
Learn more about BioBuilder's programs for students, educators, and industry professionals here 👉 https://biobuilder.org/
And follow BioBuilder on social media:
https://www.facebook.com/BioBuilderFoundation/
https://twitter.com/SystemsSally
https://www.youtube.com/@BioBuilder
https://www.instagram.com/systems_sally/
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Jacob Lei was a rising Junior in High School when he participated in one of BioBuilder's online programs in the summer of 2020, waking up at 5AM Pacific time to participate synchronously three times a week for a month. BioBuilder’s online program introduced Jacob to the idea that biology and engineering could be combined to help people, using genetic parts that could be reconnected to address global issues. His biodesign team focused on medical treatments with a design that addressed insulin regulation in Type I diabetes, incorporating a model for insulin fluctuations in R.
Jacob furthered his interest in synthetic biology through a program at UCSD the following summer -- taught by Carlos Vera (an amazing BioBuilder teacher himself!). And now Jacob attends Rice University in Texas where he is studying bioengineering, and will be joining Jeff Tabor's lab to carry out an undergraduate research project, working on novel two component signaling pathways. He is also sharing his excitement for science through a local outreach program called Kids Are Scientists Too, in which Jacob spends time doing fun science demonstrations with young students near Rice University.
Learn more about BioBuilder's programs for students, educators, and industry professionals here 👉 https://biobuilder.org/
And follow BioBuilder on social media:
https://www.facebook.com/BioBuilderFoundation/
https://twitter.com/SystemsSally
https://www.youtube.com/@BioBuilder
https://www.instagram.com/systems_sally/
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In this interview, Presley notes how they haven’t seen a single program or organization that is similar to BioBuilder. Presley would know, given the range of programs that they have engaged in.
Presley is currently an 11th grade student at Prospect Hill Academy Charter School in Cambridge, MA. The first BioBuilder experience for Presley came as an 8th grader through an exploratory program BioBuilder ran in the Learning Lab @ LabCentral. After a 9th grade “zoom only” year that included a virtual biology class, Presley joined BioBuilder’s High School Apprenticeship Challenge as a 10th grader. This was the program that gave them lots of hands-on lab training and reinforced their interest in molecular biology. Their Apprenticeship biodesign project was an at-home HIV test. Though Presley came into the Apprenticeship thinking they would pursue a political science in college, the BioBuilder experience shifted their ambitions to study biochemistry in college.
Their experience as an Apprentice has led to additional professional experiences during high school, notably a three week summer internship at Tufts Medical Center in a research lab studying cholera. This year, Presley kicked off the all-new BioBuilder Student Ambassador program, presenting BioBuilder’s opportunities to other students at Prospect Hill Academy Charter School and recording a lab training video for this year’s BioBuilderClub teams.
Learn more about BioBuilder's programs for students, educators, and industry professionals here 👉 https://biobuilder.org/
And follow BioBuilder on social media:
https://www.facebook.com/BioBuilderFoundation/
https://twitter.com/SystemsSally
https://www.youtube.com/@BioBuilder
https://www.instagram.com/systems_sally/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/16132078 -
Jo has been a biology teacher for 26 years and a BioBuilder from the very start, having attended the very first Professional Development workshop at MIT in 2011. Since then, she has integrated BioBuilder into her classroom (Newton North and Westborough High Schools in MA), supporting a BioBuilderClub that was led by Viggy (Season 1 Episode 6), and leading teacher professional development workshops. In this conversation she digs into what it takes to run BioBuilder labs and programs, as well as how evolution of the field has made the content easier to teach and more relevant to everyone.
Over the past decade, she has found that teaching BioBuilder to students and teachers has gotten easier thanks to the success of the field. She regularly teaches how synthetic biology enables the production of Vanillin from yeast rather than plants and how Ginkgo Bioworks can resurrect the scent of an extinct flower. These examples, as well as how students rely on "their best friends: Google, Siri, and Alexa," have made teaching BioBuilder easier and easier. She also recalls how the first BioBuilder workshop required 5 days of in person learning, and how it transitioned to 3 days of in person learning, and how now - post COVID - BioBuilder teachers are trained in a hybrid model of synchronous and asynchronous learning to reach educators everywhere.
The very last minute of the interview includes Jo's heartfelt description of the impact BioBuilder has had on her own career.Learn more about BioBuilder's programs for students, educators, and industry professionals here 👉 https://biobuilder.org/
And follow BioBuilder on social media:
https://www.facebook.com/BioBuilderFoundation/
https://twitter.com/SystemsSally
https://www.youtube.com/@BioBuilder
https://www.instagram.com/systems_sally/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/16132078 -
Veni Dole is currently studying Chemical Engineering at Columbia University, but as a high school student she participated in BioBuilder's BioBuilderClub at Andover High School. The team project she worked on addressed plastic bottles that pollute the ocean. Their design used salt as a trigger for bacterial production of pETase, allowing microbes under the bottle's label to dissolve the plastic. The work not led her to research what has become a hot topic in biotechnology but also to speak with many leaders in the field, who offered ideas and reagents in support of the project. The BioBuilderClub idea was entered in the CleanTech competition, where it made the list of finalists, and was published in BioTreks, a peer-reviewed journal for high school synthetic biologists.
Veni credits BioBuilder for introducing her to synthetic biology, for the helpful framework that enabled her imagined solution to take shape, and for stimulating her interest in entrepreneurship. Though high school is already a few years in the rear view mirror, Veni vividly remembers presenting her team's project to the startup companies at LabCentral in Cambridge, MA as part of the BioBuilderClub Final Assembly.Learn more about BioBuilder's programs for students, educators, and industry professionals here 👉 https://biobuilder.org/
And follow BioBuilder on social media:
https://www.facebook.com/BioBuilderFoundation/
https://twitter.com/SystemsSally
https://www.youtube.com/@BioBuilder
https://www.instagram.com/systems_sally/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/16132078 -
Geneva Fischer, a rising sophomore at Northeastern University in Boston, has been part of the BioBuilder community since high school. As part of her work in the biotechnology program at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, she saw her classmates participate in the BioBuilderClub, joined an intensive workshop at the BioBuilder Learning Lab @LabCentral, and participated in the online Idea Accelerator during the COVID shut-down of in person classes. Most recently she has worked as an intern in the BioBuilder Learning Lab @Ginkgo where she researched the strain instability of a biomanufacturing strain, improved the teaching protocols, and supported the wide array of students who came to the lab as workshop participants. She credits BioBuilder for advancing her skills and interests, putting her at ease in many advanced settings like college labs and lab-based teaching of others.
Learn more about BioBuilder's programs for students, educators, and industry professionals here 👉 https://biobuilder.org/
And follow BioBuilder on social media:
https://www.facebook.com/BioBuilderFoundation/
https://twitter.com/SystemsSally
https://www.youtube.com/@BioBuilder
https://www.instagram.com/systems_sally/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/16132078 -
Dave Westenberg, a Professor of Biological Sciences at Missouri University of Science & Technology, is widely known as a wonderful microbiologist, a great communicator and an exceptionally dedicated teacher. His students, be they undergraduates, high school teachers or public audiences, invariably feel empowered as scientists because Dave makes room for student curiosity, collaboration, and learning from mistakes.
Dave attended one of BioBuilder's earliest professional development workshops and immediately saw how the curriculum could create the kind of educational experiences he wanted for his students. His enthusiasm led him to attended BioBuilder's advanced training program. He has gone on to teach professional development workshops including some in NYC @ Rockefeller with Lindsey L'Ecuyer. He regularly leads workshops in pedagogy and synthetic biology through M S&T and through the American Society for Microbiology.Learn more about BioBuilder's programs for students, educators, and industry professionals here 👉 https://biobuilder.org/
And follow BioBuilder on social media:
https://www.facebook.com/BioBuilderFoundation/
https://twitter.com/SystemsSally
https://www.youtube.com/@BioBuilder
https://www.instagram.com/systems_sally/
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Rebekah Ravgiala is an award-winning biotechnology teacher at Tyngsborough High School in Massachusetts. She attended the first BioBuilder teacher professional workshop at MIT in 2011 and was hooked. Her excitement about synthetic biology motivated her to lead her school's iGEM/BioBuilderClub teams year after year. In 2012, Rebekah registered and trained as an advanced BioBuilder instructor, learning how to teach other teachers the BioBuilder curriculum. Since then she has co-taught summer workshops for teachers in Cambridge, Mexico, and online. She serves on the BioBuilder Board of Directors, leading the pivot to online programs during the 2020 and 2021 pandemic shutdown and supporting new BioBuilder teachers after their professional development experiences.
In this podcast, Rebekah shares her BioBuilder experiences and how "biotech with a purpose" helped her get unstuck as a teacher, bringing ambitious new educational goals in reach. She also describes how the BioBuilderClub supported her students through the challenging year of online learning.Learn more about BioBuilder's programs for students, educators, and industry professionals here 👉 https://biobuilder.org/
And follow BioBuilder on social media:
https://www.facebook.com/BioBuilderFoundation/
https://twitter.com/SystemsSally
https://www.youtube.com/@BioBuilder
https://www.instagram.com/systems_sally/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/16132078 -
Oscar is a rising junior at University of Massachusetts at Lowell, studying biology. His interest in biotechnology was sparked by a high school class and teacher at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School. He applied and was accepted to BioBuilder's High School Apprenticeship Challenge in 2019, held that year at LabCentral in Cambridge. His biodesign project addressed high concentrations of lead in drinking water. At the poster session presentation of his project, Oscar met a researcher at Indigo Ag, a biotech company that uses microbiology and machine learning to improve crop yield and health. Oscar was hired at Indigo Ag as a summer intern. Oscar remarked on how his BioBuilder lab skills helped him in the Indigo Ag lab as an intern and at college as a biology major.
Learn more about BioBuilder's programs for students, educators, and industry professionals here 👉 https://biobuilder.org/
And follow BioBuilder on social media:
https://www.facebook.com/BioBuilderFoundation/
https://twitter.com/SystemsSally
https://www.youtube.com/@BioBuilder
https://www.instagram.com/systems_sally/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/16132078 -
Nancy is currently a Clinical Research Assistant at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. She was one of the first BioBuilder Apprentices, a workforce readiness program for Boston-area students in under-resourced local high schools. In 2021 she graduated from the University of Massachusetts -Dartmouth, where she majored in Psychology and minored in Biochemistry. In 2022, she has returned to the BioBuilder Apprenticeship program as a teaching assistant, helping today's high schoolers with professional and laboratory skills.
Learn more about BioBuilder's programs for students, educators, and industry professionals here 👉 https://biobuilder.org/
And follow BioBuilder on social media:
https://www.facebook.com/BioBuilderFoundation/
https://twitter.com/SystemsSally
https://www.youtube.com/@BioBuilder
https://www.instagram.com/systems_sally/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/16132078 -
Chris Kuffner has been a longtime BioBuilder -- starting in high school at Acton-Boxborough High School in Massachusetts almost a decade ago, and now he serves as a BioBuilderClub mentor and workshop instructor.
He pursued his early interest in synthetic biology at University of Maryland, where he participated in the hardware track of iGEM. His team engineered a -80 freezer that could be built from component parts that cost less than 10% of the commercial versions of the lab equipment. Chris is now at Boston University pursuing his PhD in BioEngineering. His thesis work is exploring ways to visualize RNA in real time inside living cells.Learn more about BioBuilder's programs for students, educators, and industry professionals here 👉 https://biobuilder.org/
And follow BioBuilder on social media:
https://www.facebook.com/BioBuilderFoundation/
https://twitter.com/SystemsSally
https://www.youtube.com/@BioBuilder
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Jenny is a creative whose work designing the first BioBuilder website influenced her career path from biomedical engineer to successful luxury handbag maker, marketer, and woman-led business owner.
Learn more about BioBuilder's programs for students, educators, and industry professionals here 👉 https://biobuilder.org/
And follow BioBuilder on social media:
https://www.facebook.com/BioBuilderFoundation/
https://twitter.com/SystemsSally
https://www.youtube.com/@BioBuilder
https://www.instagram.com/systems_sally/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/16132078 -
Tian Shi is a senior at Georgetown University who came to BioBuilder's Learning Lab as a high school student and designed a biotechnology that she is now commercializing. She has also written a book on entrepreneurship and credits her work with BioBuilder for helping her see herself as an agent of change.
Learn more about BioBuilder's programs for students, educators, and industry professionals here 👉 https://biobuilder.org/
And follow BioBuilder on social media:
https://www.facebook.com/BioBuilderFoundation/
https://twitter.com/SystemsSally
https://www.youtube.com/@BioBuilder
https://www.instagram.com/systems_sally/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/16132078 -
Angela Girodier is a senior undergraduate student at Emmanuel College, majoring in biology and secondary education. She is an alumna of the BioBuilder Apprenticeship Program.
In this podcast, she describes how a science scavenger hunt in 8th grade and a grant proposal she wrote for her high school biotech program put her a path to a science career. These experiences revealed the fun, creative, and useful parts of science, and led her to find a way in. Her high school teacher encouraged her to apply to BioBuilder's Apprenticeship Program, which she did in 2017.
The BioBuilder Apprenticeship taught her lab math and techniques which she describes as vital to her success in college -- especially when she needed to take her lab remotely. She also recalls how the Apprenticeship's emphasis on teamwork and networking helped her build her resume and make the most of her summer internships at MassBiologics and at Merck.
Looking ahead, Angela wants to work with kids of diverse backgrounds in low income communities, helping to bring more diversity into the STEM industry.
In November 2021, Angela spoke at BioBuilder's 10th anniversary celebration and the opening of BioBuilder's new Learning Lab in Boston's Seaport. A video of her inspirational talk is linked here
Learn more about BioBuilder's programs for students, educators, and industry professionals here 👉 https://biobuilder.org/
And follow BioBuilder on social media:
https://www.facebook.com/BioBuilderFoundation/
https://twitter.com/SystemsSally
https://www.youtube.com/@BioBuilder
https://www.instagram.com/systems_sally/
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