At the intersection of art, science, and technology is Bio-Art, the creation of works of art using living matter. One common way to create Bio-Art uses bacteria transformed with DNA codes for brightly-colored proteins. In this experiment, students create "Bio-Paints" using bacterial culture techniques. The color-producing microbes are painted onto an agar plate canvas. After incubation will inspect, admire, and hopefully share your living art.
• Create works of art using color-producing microbes
• Explore the intersections of science and art and the field of BioArt
• Understand the transformation technologies used to create bacterial BioPaints
• Includes four brightly colored BioPaints and the material needed for 25 agar canvases
For 25 students.
Time required: 60 minutes (plus two incubations).
Kit includes: Instructions, ampicillin, IPTG, GFP, Pink, Blue, and Purple BactoBeads™, ReadyPour™ Luria Broth agar, sterile, Luria Broth liquid media, inoculating loops, sterile, plastic loops, non-sterile, toothpicks, petri plates, 1.5 mL microcentrifuge tubes, & 10 mL pipet, sterile.
All you need: Distilled water, gloves, UV light source, microwave, incubator or water bath, adjustable pipette and tips (20-200µl), pipet pump (optional), vortexer (optional), & fine tip paint brushes (optional).