“RoboRoach” Startup Hopes Partners, TED Talk Help Usher In Profits
Summary
Now, after subsisting mostly on grants and modest sales revenues for the past five years, the startup has moved into a new phase where it is forming partnerships with education and retail organizations—and capturing more of the world’s attention with its democratizing, DIY approach to teaching people the basic principles of neuroscience.The company’s goal is to bring its products to a much wider audience and inspire young scientific minds to study neuroscience, in part to help combat brain disorders that affect huge numbers of people.If we can lower the barrier to entry so the only limit is creativity, that might help with finding treatments for neurological disorders.” And while this roach surgery thing may sound a bit gruesome, Gage insists Backyard Brains’ experiments don’t cause the insects any significant, lasting harm.“You have to learn how to care for the animal instead of treating it like a toy—that’s why we don’t sell them with the surgery already done.” Though Backyard Brains is best known for its Robo Roaches, it also offers kits to test scorpions and flies, and its products include dozens of other experiments.We don’t think we’ll solve Alzheimer’s disease, but a lot of this is relatable.” According to Gage, Backyard Brains is also delving into next-generation optogenetics, which is the process of using optical and genetic methods to control and monitor individual neurons in living tissue.