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GMU:DIY Biolab “Driver’s License”/DNA extraction (view source)
Revision as of 19:44, 31 October 2017
, 31 October 2017→Joe Davis, Microvenus*
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*http://www.artscatalyst.org/sterile-sensei-ichi-go | *http://www.artscatalyst.org/sterile-sensei-ichi-go | ||
===Joe Davis, Microvenus | ===Joe Davis, Microvenus=== | ||
[[File:microvenus-unmondemoderne.wordpress.jpg|thumb|Fig. 6. Microvenus. Source: http://unmondemoderne.wordpress.com ]] | [[File:microvenus-unmondemoderne.wordpress.jpg|thumb|Fig. 6. Microvenus. Source: http://unmondemoderne.wordpress.com ]] | ||
Microvenus is a genetically modified Escherichia coli bacteria strain carrying a piece of synthetically composed sequence of amino acid molecules. It was first cloned into several laboratory strains of E. coli in collaboration with molecular geneticist Dana Boyd at Jon Beckwith’s laboratory at Harvard Medical School in 1988. As bacteria is small and invisible for the human eye, the artwork instead of being “aesthetic” is rather imaginable. Davis introduces the Microvenus as follow: | Microvenus is a genetically modified Escherichia coli bacteria strain carrying a piece of synthetically composed sequence of amino acid molecules. It was first cloned into several laboratory strains of E. coli in collaboration with molecular geneticist Dana Boyd at Jon Beckwith’s laboratory at Harvard Medical School in 1988. As bacteria is small and invisible for the human eye, the artwork instead of being “aesthetic” is rather imaginable. Davis introduces the Microvenus as follow: | ||
"Each Microvenus organism contains many copies of a special molecule designed by the artist and his colleagues. The artistic molecule is a short piece of synthetic DNA containing a coded visual icon that has been incorporated into a living strain of bacteria (E. Coli)." | "Each Microvenus organism contains many copies of a special molecule designed by the artist and his colleagues. The artistic molecule is a short piece of synthetic DNA containing a coded visual icon that has been incorporated into a living strain of bacteria (E. Coli)."* | ||
The coded icon is a symbol of life from a germanic rune. Resembling letter Y it also represents a female earth in different mythologies. The graphical image was converted into the bit-map image and further into DNA base pairs in order to synthetically program and attach to the original DNA code of the plasmids carried by bacteria (Fig. 6.). Davis has imagined that the code might be interpreted by extraterrestrials as the final stage of the project was supposed to include shipping of the modified bacteria into the universe. | The coded icon is a symbol of life from a germanic rune. Resembling letter Y it also represents a female earth in different mythologies. The graphical image was converted into the bit-map image and further into DNA base pairs in order to synthetically program and attach to the original DNA code of the plasmids carried by bacteria (Fig. 6.). Davis has imagined that the code might be interpreted by extraterrestrials as the final stage of the project was supposed to include shipping of the modified bacteria into the universe. | ||