You said you might open up 2 more slots for the Lab Staff tier, but have you considered opening up few more than that? I don't know if that would be too compromising for your vision, but that maybe the push to meet the goal.
Viewing post in Island of Dr. Moreau TTRPG: FINAL WEEK comments
It is something I've strongly consitered, but yes, we're not really breaking even on those slots, since having more then 5 Fresh Meat backer submitted characters will becomes a big drain on page space, which in turn costs a lot of money. It's something I'll be discussing with Arania in the final days of the campaign, and there will be an update before any of those slots open to give people plenty of time to prepare if they want one.