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David Sun Kong, Ph.D.

@davidsunkong

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Director @communitybiotech @mitmedialab @howtogrowalmostanything @mitcloudlab @ancientfuturetech @biosummit @metafluidics
🗣️ @thelavinagency

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Family,

It’s my birthday today, and I could not be more grateful for all of the love and beauty I am so fortunate to have in my life. Thank you for being friends, colleagues, comrades, and family on this sacred journey and adventure of life.

I am also so grateful to all of the earlier versions of me, the ones that felt lost, unloved, without purpose or direction. Not only does it get better, but unimaginably so. It turns out we have within an infinite source of love and energy, if we can just quiet all of the noise and distractions enough to feel it.

Blessings to you all! May love guide the way today and every day. ❤️🙏 by @davidsunkong

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5 days ago

Such an honor to collaborate and share the stage with @xcaminos (@thereefline) and @skylartibbits (@selfassemblylab) on our “Reef of the Future” project. I could not be more excited to “Grow a Supercoral” together and to invite you all as co-designers and co-scientists along with our @howtogrowalmostanything students. We need planetary-scale empathy, compassion, and care for the corals and oceans. Join us today!!! 🪸🌊❤️

#mitfuturefest #supercoral taken in Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) by @davidsunkong

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9 days ago

It was an honor to be interviewed by @johnkwerner at @mitfuturefest as a part of a session on “The Next 250”: ideas that will shape the next 250 years of civilization.

I share a few thoughts on the importance of centering service to communities in how we design technology.

#davidsunkong #mitfuturefest taken in MIT Kresge Auditorium by @davidsunkong

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13 days ago

It’s an honor to be a part of the inaugural @mitfuturefest! Huge shoutouts to @michaeljohngorman, @tanitajenderes, and the entire future fest team for their outstanding vision and leadership. It’s long overdue for @mit to open its doors to the world in this way, so thank you for making this happen.

Reef of the Future | It’s a privilege to both collaborate and share the stage with two forces of nature (literally and figuratively!), @xcaminos (@thereefline) and @skylartibbits (@selfassemblylab), who are both doing pioneering work with coral reefs across geological and cultural scales. We are working on something really special together—not only technologies for fabricating and bringing new life to reefs, but also cultural approaches for inviting coastal communities as artistic and scientific co-designers.

The Next 250 Years | Thanks to the 🐐@johnkwerner for inviting me to be a part of a conversation imagining America’s next 250 years. What kind of technological future do we actually want—and who gets to shape it? I’ll share thoughts on the importance of values in technology, how AI, robotics, and biotech can be designed to empower and uplift people across diverse communities, ways to dramatically expand access to scientific and technological tools and knowledge, and why human and planetary agency needs to be at the center of the next 250 years.

Last but not least, you MUST come to PARTY2099. I am so proud of the creativity and work that has been put in by co-presenters @blknws, @sojourn_boston, and @basement_prjct, all trailblazers in culture grinding away to bring underground art to Boston and the world. We will have two stages with state-of-the-art sound and also members of the @livecode.boston
community sharing their work. You won’t want to miss this!

The party is free and open to all, just register at the link in my bio.

See you all this week at @mitfuturefest!!!

Credit: Heart of Okeanos by Petroc Sesti @petrocsesti by @davidsunkong

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19 days ago

YOU’RE INVITED ✉️

PARTY2099 is coming to @MITFutureFest.

Reserve your place with a MIT Future Fest ticket or RSVP via the link in bio.

Space is limited, and admission will be subject to capacity.

See you on the dance floor. 🪩

#PARTY2099 by @davidsunkong

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22 days ago

My 15th year at the Burn. “Why do you keep going back?” a friend asked me.

It can be hard to remember why until you’re there, feeling the wind in your face and the dust enveloping you. And then you experience a reprieve, a grace, and the unveiling of the sublime.

Art like Mundara from @theartrising, revealed like a sculpture from stone, a metal oasis emerging from a windswept land of forgotten dreams.

#mundara #burningman #burningman2026 #blackrockcity #industwetrust taken in Black Rock City by @davidsunkong

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a month ago

LOADING…BURN No.15!!! Damn that feels crazy to say out loud! Every year is a special and unique snowflake (err, dust angel?) and I know this one will be no different. Some snippets from last year before we turn the page…the Man Burns in 6 days!!!!!

Seeya at @funkadelephant (Tuesday night at 130am after @louisthechild) and @yknotsaloon (Thurs night 2-4am)!

Love yall.

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#burningman #burningman2026 #robotheart #blackrockcity #industwetrust @burningman.world @burningmanfashion_ by @davidsunkong

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2 months ago

This Fall, we are launching a new @mitmedialab course for the first time: “How to Biomanufacture (Almost) Anything (HTBAA)!”

Instructors:
@davidsunkong, @mitmedialab
@george.church, @harvardmed
Joseph Jacobson, @mitmedialab

In HTBAA, students will explore the frontiers of biomanufacturing, from microbial, mammalian, and cell-free systems, to automation technologies spanning microfluidics, desktop liquid handling robots, and cloud labs.

And, for the first time, HTBAA students will have access to the new @mitcloudlab for Learning!

Thanks to funding from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center and @massgovernor Maura Healey, we are establishing the @mitcloudlab for Learning!

Registered HTBAA students from MIT, Harvard, and Wellesley will have the opportunity to conduct hands-on work with the Cloud Lab, while global HTBAA students will be able to conduct experiments remotely via one of our HTGAA nodes.

Join us to explore the cutting-edge of robotics, AI, and biology!!

🔗 Applications are now open, apply via link in the bio!

📆 Deadline: September 11 at 11:59p PT

Apply today, and please share with students, educators, and communities who might be interested!

Poster design: @ronancdonovan taken in MIT Media Lab by @davidsunkong

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2 months ago

It was an honor to host Massachusetts Senator @edmarkey at the @mitmedialab earlier this summer!

It was a privilege to share with him our national and global education mission with @howtogrowalmostanything, and also our new MIT Cloud Lab for Learning, where we are advancing robotics, AI, and life sciences education for students throughout the Commonwealth.

I look forward to working with the Senator on advancing this important mission in the months and years ahead!

And, it was fun to (accidentally) help moonlight as his speech writer 🤪😆

Thanks for the video 🎥 @laurenramlan!
Cover photo: @jimbodays by @davidsunkong

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2 months ago

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3 months ago

WE DID IT!!! Congratulations to all of the amazing @mit, @harvard, and @wellesleycollege students for successfully completing the @mitmedialab synthetic biology course @howtogrowalmostanything! 🧬

It was an intense but rewarding semester exploring the frontiers of synthetic biology, from reading, writing, and editing DNA, to using the latest AI models to design proteins, assembling genetic circuits with liquid handling robots, and prototyping projects with large-scale cloud laboratories. It was an epic semester!

The course culminated with final presentations from our in-person @mit, @harvard, and @wellesleycollege students, and also more than 13 hours of presentations from our global students 😱😳🤯!!!

Follow @howtogrowalmostanything to learn more about our students, their projects, and the larger HTGAA learning community!

#syntheticbiology #synbio #biodesign #howtogrowalmostanything #htgaa taken in MIT Media Lab by @davidsunkong

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5 months ago

The 2nd week of @howtogrowalmostanything featured a DNA Design and Manipulation lab! Students picked a protein of interest, generated a codon optimized DNA sequence which they prepared for synthesis via @twist_bioscience. In the wet lab, students used restrictions enzymes to digest lambda DNA into patterns to make DNA gel art. Thanks to all of the amazing HTGAA TAs for designing and executing the week’s homework and lab with our students! taken in MIT Media Lab by @davidsunkong

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8 months ago