The final day of the SymbioticA Biotech-Art workshop began with a session about plant tissue culture and cloning with Dr. Tien Huynh from RMIT Applied Science. We were given tiny ‘daughter’ plants cloned from a Chinese orchid species and separated them in sterile conditions before planting them in individual sealed jars containing 6 different mixtures of growing media. The recipes consisted of varying quantities of charcoal, coconut milk, banana, sugar and other nutrients in an agar gel. These kinds of experiments are used to fine-tune the way plants are grown …

The first exercise of the day was a practical session in the art of tissue culture. This is where live tissue is grown from cells extracted from either plants or animals. The group was asked to bring in samples of animal tissue to use for this purpose. When animals are killed for human consumption the meat is kept chilled to keep it fresh. The concept of ‘freshness’ actually means that cells in the meat can still be alive. Marrow cells are particularly useful for tissue culture as they are sealed …

I’m in a strange emotional space. I’m used to an inner life that’s a zigzag ride between certainty and uncertainty. But during these last few intense days these uncertainties are of a different colour.
For me the only difference between cooking a chicken curry and working with animal materials in labs is that one activity is labeled  ’science’ and the other not. They are both morally problematic, but in practice I accept and maintain that I’m pretty comfortable about both. I’m not directly involved with the “killing” in these cases but …

During this week we’ve been learning that many of the popular beliefs about DNA, how it works and how scientists work with it aren’t completely accurate. The familiarity we have with the idea of DNA and its association with identity has been formed in part by concepts such as ‘DNA fingerprinting’ which is used in forensics and mostly understood by the public via TV shows like CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. In fact the science is far from simple and results can be misrepresented. We often hear of cases where mistakes …

This post is a collection of ‘things’ that play a role in the laboratory work. I will add to this.

photos by Pete Waters.

Whilst the science of genetics has solved many puzzles about living things and how physical characteristics are passed from generation to generation, there are a great many mysteries still to be solved. As the “Ghost in Your Genes” video illustrates, there are epigenetic factors that influence how genes work, meaning DNA and genes aren’t the whole story of who we are. We are living at a time of  incredible knowledge but also a whole new multitude of mysteries. The capacity for scepticism, doubt and questioning is of paramount importance for …

If you google ‘DNA portrait’ you get 3,110,000 results. The concept of DNA as ’fingerprint’ has taken its place within our culture (TV cop shows for instance) and we’ve come to accept the idea that it’s the key to our existence. The mystique surrounding DNA was the hot topic today as we isolated our DNA and held our very ‘identity’ in our hands (well those of us that didn’t turn out to be androids).
As a brief precis I would only repeat a comment made today that Oron was wrong when he said by the end of the week …

As a traumatised sparrow flew frantically about our heads we spent this morning’s session learning about DNA extraction, restriction enzymes and electrophoresis (that is an awesome link – click it, go on). It involved a lot of metaphors: ‘nature’s scissors’ and a rather amusing reference to the equisite corpse. As I write we’re about end our discussion of the theory and begin our first physical experience of DNA.
To produce glow in the dark rabbits and transgenic corn, genes must be introduced into cells. One of the ‘vectors’ used to carry new DNA information …

So, after an evening of robust debate, kimchi and sake, an update on the happenings on Day One of the RMIT SymbioticA Workshop.
As discussed in the two previous posts, the major task of the day was the construction of ‘laminar flow’ hoods within which various bio-science activities can be conducted in a sterile micro-environment. We self-organised into groups of about 6 or 7 to work on the hoods which I found particularly engaging, from a design perspective as much as a social and team-building exercize. The dynamic within our group was robust and highly cohesive  as we began by …

How predicatble humans are. The silliest group attempt to create a sterile hood today couldn’t help itself animating the otherwise very rational scientific instrument with human characteristics. What started with a pair of goggles inserted into the protective cover to overcome the problem of not being able to see through cloudy plastic quickly evolved into arms, hands and teeth. Even the holes inserted into the top to allow more air flow could be loosely interpreted as ears. Isn’t this how we originally invented Gods … in our image (contrary to the other way round, …