E. chromi
Living Colour from Bacteria
Collaboration with
James King & the Cambridge University iGEM 2009 team
E. chromi is a collaboration between designers and scientists in the new field of synthetic biology. In 2009, seven Cambridge University undergraduates spent the summer genetically engineering bacteria to secrete a variety of coloured pigments, visible to the naked eye. They designed standardised sequences of DNA, known as BioBricks, and inserted them into E. coli bacteria. Each BioBrick part contains genes selected from existing organisms spanning the living kingdoms, enabling the bacteria to produce a colour: red, yellow, green, blue, brown or violet. By combining these with other BioBricks, bacteria could be programmed to do useful things, such as indicate whether drinking water is safe by turning red if they sense a toxin. E. chromi won the Grand Prize at the 2009 International Genetically Engineered Machine Competition (iGEM).
Designers Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg and James King worked with the team to explore the potential of this new technology, while it was being developed in the lab. They designed a timeline proposing ways that a foundational technology such as E. chromi could develop over the next century. These scenarios include food additives, patenting issues, personalised medicine, terrorism and new types of weather. Not necessarily desirable, they explore the different agendas that could shape the use of E. chromi and in turn, our everyday lives. This collaboration has meant that E. chromi is a technology that has been designed at both the genetic and the human scale, setting a precedent for future collaborations between designers and scientists.
Nominated for Designs of the Year Awards 2011.
Visit echromi.com for more details about the project.
Follow @echromi on Twitter.
The Scatalog
E. coli expressing Violacein
Photo: Cambridge iGEM 2009
The Cambridge 2009 iGEM team with Tom Knight
photo: iGEM HQ, David Appleyard
Appearances
Brit Insurance Designs of the Year 2011 Design Museum, London, UK
St Etienne Biennale Internationale Design France
Nano Supermarket Dutch Design Week, Netherlands
The Wellcome Trust London, UK
Wired UK UK
Synthesis.cc Rob Carlson
Adam Bluestein
The Word
Oscillator
The Scientist
Labrat
Wired US Bruce Sterling
DIYbio video
Science Friday National Public Radio, USA