Event Recap: Bacterial Photography Workshop
The Student Biolabs hosted its first official project workshop: Students from different backgrounds actively engaged in synthetic biology with hands-on lab experience to transform bacteria & “print” their own picture using genetically modified bacteria!
Generously supported & sponsored by CSEM
WORKSHOP DETAILS
WHO: Students interested in Biology, Synthetic Biology, or Biotechnology
WHAT: Hands-on workshop focused on optogenetic circuits in E. coli bacteria.
WHEN: October 1st, 2022 | 10am - 5pm
WHERE: ETH Zürich - Institute of Microbiology; 4 Vladimir-Prelog-Weg 8093 Zürich
SOURCE PUBLICATION: Engineering RGB color vision into Escherichia coli
Available for FREE to ETH and UZH students. No prior biology or lab experience required!
Overview of the Workshop:
Join us for a one-day workshop during which you will learn basic molecular biology and genetic modification techniques. The resulting experiment will enable you to print out your favorite photo using E. coli bacteria!
During this workshop you will:
learn safety principles in the lab
practice pipetting techniques
learn the theory behind bacterial transformation and optogenetics
genetically modify E. coli bacteria
Pipetting Introduction.
Pipetting is a crucial technique for use in biology labs. In this workshop, we will use pipettes to handle volumes precisely. If you have no background in pipetting: do not worry - you will be introduced to this essential lab technique.
2. Transfer DNA plasmid into the E. coli bacteria to make the photography system
To make the photography system, we will transform e.Coli with the following optogenetic circuit:
3. Incubate & grow the engineered bacteria with a projector
Bacteria will be placed in the custom incubator, with an embedded projector that projects an image of choice on the bacterial colony. Our engineered bacteria will respond to the different wavelengths of light using the aforementioned optogenetic circuit. As a result, the bacteria will produce pigments of different colors, creating an image on the plate.
4. Final image produced by the bacteria
The bacteria will produce the final image you designed. Some examples from the source publication are shown below:
Source Publication for the Workshop:
Fernandez-Rodriguez, Jesus, et al. "Engineering RGB color vision into Escherichia coli." Nature chemical biology 13.7 (2017): 706-708. https://www.nature.com/articles/nchembio.2390