About Us
About the BioBus
History
The Cell Motion BioBus was founded in August, 2007 by Ben Dubin-Thaler, only weeks after he presented his Ph.D. thesis on how cells move. Turning down a number of job offers, Dr. Ben pursued his dream of building a vehicle for bringing hands-on science education to communities that rarely have such opportunities. After purchasing a 1974 San Francisco transit bus, Dr. Ben created the BioBus, a high-tech laboratory on wheels, boasting an array of advanced scientific equipment.
Today
The BioBus reaches over 10,000 students a year, visiting public schools across New York City and the country. The BioBus focuses its efforts on schools that are lacking resources for hands-on science education. Informal educational programs on the BioBus reach an additional 10,000 people a year at summer camps, parks, museums, community gardens, urban farms, and after-school programs. Our students explore the immediate, microscopic world around them in an inquiry-based, hands-on setting aided by state-of-the-art science equipment and supervised by Ph.D. level scientists.
The BioBus is committed to a program of radical sustainable. The BioBus is carbon neutral; its daily energy needs are provided by solar panels, a wind turbine, and an engine that runs on waste vegetable oil. In addition, we use low-environmental impact and salvaged materials in our projects whenever feasible in an effort to reduce waste.
Not-for-profit
The BioBus is owned by Cell Motion Laboratories, Incorporated, an educational non-profit organization based in New York. Our programs are run by a diverse and dedicated staff. Are you ready to join us?
Our Sponsors
Olympus supported the inception of the BioBus with major equipment grants as well as superb technical assistance. Their donation of new microscopes, digital cameras, and light sources has introduced thousands of students to the wonders of the microscopic world.
Farber Specialty Vehicles is a traditional maker of specialty vehicles, including numerous mobile laboratories. They are a long-time supporter of the Mobile Laboratory Coalition, and have contributed major physical improvements to the interior of the BioBus, greatly increasing its capacity, comfort, and safety.
New York University Materials Science and Education Center is assisting us in developing a new material science curriculum. Professors from NYU are collaborating with educators to design new experiments where students can explore and measure the amazing materials properties of common things like milk, sand, and paint.
Science House recently donated 4 new digital displays that allow dozens of people to see the microscopical world at the same time, in addition to hard drives and other devices that allow us to more effectively communicate science aboard the BioBus.
Wolfram Research, Inc., maker of Mathematica, has equipped the BioBus’s computers with Mathematica, a world class mathematical analysis software. Keep yours eyes out for new BioBusMathematica Demonstrations coming soon, but for now check out the Wolfram Demonstrations Project page for great science demonstrations you can download for free.
Invitrogen has generously donated a number of fluorescence dyes and reagents that have allowed our high school interns to develop a library of stained organelles. This library will allow students to see DNA, mitochondria, the endoplasmic reticulum, and the cytoskeleton on the microscope instead of just in a textbook.
Numerex has donated a GPS transponder that feeds the current location of the BioBus at all times over the web. Numerex Corp. (NASDAQ: NMRX) is the machine-to-machine (M2M) provider of choice to some of the world’s largest organizations delivering secure, all-around solutions through a single source. The Company’s M2M expertise enables its customers to efficiently, reliably, and securely monitor and manage assets remotely whenever and wherever needed, while simplifying and speeding up development and deployment. Numerex is the first M2M service provider in North America to carry the ISO 27001 information security certification. Numerex DNA™ offerings include hardware Devices, Network services, and software Applications offered as individual components or as bundled services. At Numerex, “Machines Trust Us™”. For additional information, please visit www.numerex.com.
Marware donated their wonderful project management software, ProjectX, to the BioBus, helping us keep our cells organized.
Fetch Softworks, donated their legendary file transfer software to the BioBus, giving us absolutely no excuse not to update the website on a regular basis.