The History of Seeding Labs
Seeding Labs has always had, at its center, a single core belief: scientists with abundant resources have a responsibility to share them with their colleagues in the developing world.
We began as a handful of PhD students at Harvard University who had worked in laboratories in Africa, Asia, and Latin America and wanted to make our peers aware of the material obstacles faced by researchers in resource-poor nations. We noticed that laboratory hallways were full of old but usable scientific equipment that had been placed there when researchers upgraded to new models or simply cleaned house. We knew that these tools and supplies could be a vital life-line for scientists abroad, who had talent but few tools. We gathered unwanted equipment from a few labs and sent our first shipment - around a dozen small boxes - to labs in Paraguay and Guatemala. Soon, teams of students began to scour the halls of Harvard for salvageable equipment, and word got out among students and faculty that their used equipment could help support a colleague in the developing world.
Seeding Labs has undergone some exciting changes in the last few years, but one thing always remains the same: talented scientists are everywhere. Resources, however, are not. Seeding Labs connects talented individuals to the tools they need to help themselves and their communities.