Baltimore Underground Science Space Inc

What it reported doing in 2025

COMMUNITY AND INDIVIDUAL MEMBER PROJECTS: BUGSS occupies a unique niche in the Baltimore ecosystem by enabling people of all backgrounds to engage with sophisticated scientific research in a safe, supportive and collaborative space. We provide lab space, rigorous lab-safety training and oversight, procurement support and scientific guidance. BUGSS brings together people of diverse backgrounds, from hobbyists pursuing projects of personal interest to those working at the intersection of art and science, who are using living organisms as artistic collaborators, to new biotechnology companies, who are at the earliest stages of inception. By year-end, BUGSS had 29 individual members including eighteen student members. Several members pursued independent research on microbiology, plant biotechnology and cancer detection, and several prior members successfully transitioned from working in the BUGSS lab to working at larger bioincubator spaces as their companies grew and became more well established. This year, we focused on developing a more robust safety-training program that could accommodate members whenever they chose to join the lab and that could provide faster approval for their use of new chemicals and biological reagents. This focus has helped us to expand our capacity and professionalism. BUGSS continued to support two member projects. Open Insulin is a long-standing project in collaboration with Open Insulin Foundation. It met twice weekly to engineer yeast cells to express a long-acting form of the insulin protein, and our focus this year was to increase the level of protein produced to make a production strain that could be viable for small-scale manufacturing. BUGSS also collaborated with the NASA STELLA program to develop a low-cost fluorometer that would detect fluorescence from a biological sample. Because fluorescent molecules are often used as readouts of biological reactions, this instrument could help to democratize expensive biological instrumentation to make scientific research and education more accessible.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 66.6%; rating input score 67
• Program expense ratio: 60.6%; rating input score 61
• Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: Limited
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: Limited
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 6 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 86
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
  • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

• Operating margin: -9.9%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.53; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.54; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 5.8%; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 13.6% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 12% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 17.3% per year; rating input score 100; 79th percentile among comparable filings