Used lab equipment finds a second home overseas

Pins on a map in the Seeding Labs office mark where shipments of lab equipment have been sent. The organization has shipped used supplies to 16 countries so far.

Science is expensive. Labs in the U.S. can spend millions of dollars each year on equipment and supplies. But for scientists in the developing world, these costs are often prohibitive. And that’s where a clever idea has made all the difference.

My story aired on NPR’s All Things Considered.

Amanda Nottke, who earned her Ph.D. from Harvard, sorts through used micropipettes that will be shipped to overseas science labs.

Seeding Labs founder Nina Dudnik says, 'There are talented people everywhere in the world, but they don't have equal access to the resources to do great science.'

Ibok Oduro (top) and Ellis Owusu-Dabo (bottom) spent the summer at state-of-the-art facilities across Boston as part of a new fellowship program set up by Seeding Labs.

I also have a story airing this weekend on PRI’s Living on Earth, about 40 minutes into the hour. In brief: Sometimes you stumble upon an animal that’s just plain bizarre. So bizarre that it redefines what you even mean by the word “animal.”

2 Responses to “Used lab equipment finds a second home overseas”

You might want to do a follow-up story about a little non-profit based in Roanoke, VA, called Bookbag Santa. They gather used school supplies at the end of the school year, keeping 2 tons of usable supplies out of the landfill each year. They then take a trip with 20+ volunteers to Belize to donate one ton to 3 little schools there. The second ton is available to churches, or any group that needs supplies for their own projects- local charities, the Military Family Support Group, an Indian school in S.D., etc.

What Bookbag Santa does is so simple, that every church with an overseas mission, and every school in America ought to be doing what we’re doing…

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Gary Hunt, President said this on October 29, 2011 at 4:03 am
Ari…that was such an inspiring story…. It’s great to hear about such great ideas that make a difference to scientists around the world.

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Marlene Brito said this on November 8, 2011 at 12:45 pm

ari daniel