Since 2002, we have turned surplus professional lab
equipment and supplies into free resources for classrooms.
Dr. Elaine Johnson founded Bio-Link in 1998. She was a champion of STEM education and a long-time board member of BioLink Depot. Learn more about her here.
BioLink Depot’s story began in 2002, when Genentech provided a $50,000 seed grant to launch an equipment redistribution program under the umbrella of Bio-Link, a national biotechnology education network based at City College of San Francisco (CCSF) and founded by Dr. Elaine Johnson. The program connected teachers with science supplies donated by local biotech companies and organizations, and the Depot became a gathering place where teachers could meet, pick up equipment and supplies, and contribute their own time and ideas.
By 2006, the Depot had grown from an informal exchange into a functioning distribution center, matching a steady stream of donated lab equipment with under-resourced classrooms across the Bay Area. Genentech generously provided subsequent funding as operations expanded.
As demand grew, 2011 brought the publication of an Equipment Depot Resource Guide, helping formalize how the organizaiton operated. In 2013, a dedicated Advisory Committee was formed to help guide the Depot’s next chapter.
That next chapter arrived in 2015/2016, when BioLink Depot officially incorporated as an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit, stepping out from under CCSF’s institutional umbrella after more than a decade of operating as a grant-supported program. Originally based in San Francisco, with additional facilities at various points near SFO and in Palo Alto, the organization eventually found a permanent home in Oakland, CA.
Today, BioLink Depot operates from its Oakland location and is funded primarily through individual donations and grants. We continue to rescue usable professional-grade scientific equipment and supplies headed for landfills from industry companies, academic labs and other institutions, and redistribute them - completely for free - to STEM educators across California and beyond. In 2025 alone, 340 STEM educators from 25 counties and neighboring states traveled to our Oakland facility and took $1.3 million worth of free equipment and supplies for their classrooms, benefitting roughly 130,000 students.
Big idea. Real impact.
Zero cost to schools or teachers
Annually, we provide greater than $1 million worth of usable scientific materials
to hundreds of educators at no charge.
Sustainability
We give new life to donated used and surplus lab equipment and supplies from biotech
companies and academic institutions, keeping perfectly good gear out of landfills.
Impact
Thousands of students - mostly in under-resourced schools - engage with professional
grade lab equipment and supplies, sparking scientific exploration.
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