GMU:Being a Unicellular Organism/Paulette Breuhahn: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 11:42, 27 November 2021

Project 1: bacteria portrait

Idea

The idea is to grow bacteria from different parts of the body in separate petri dishes. The cultivated bacteria are to be assembled into a kind of self-portrait.

Futher idea

The next step is to cultivate the body's own bacteria from volunteers. On the one hand, this gives us the opportunity to compare the results. Do our bacteria look similar? How individual are we on our skin? On the other hand, it shows a new side of ourselves. These portraits are meant to show that there is another way to present our self besides photos. But it is important to remember that this idea is a speculation and not a scientific experiment. There is no proof that the bacteria grown are actually endogenous.

Realisation

The bacteria are transferred from five different body sites to five different Petri dishes with a cotton swab: Petri dish (P.) A - eyes, P. B - oral cavity, P. C - belly button, P.D - vagina, P.E – feet

The bacteria have grown for 2 weeks. The temperature was usually 20 degrees.

Pattern for a collage

P. A-E after two weeks

Microscopy

Medium

For the cultivation of bacteria you can use the LB - medium.

Ingredient

Yeast extract (5g/l)
tryptone (10g/l)
sodium chloride (0.5-10g/l)
agar (15g/l)
sodium hydroxide to adjust the pH to 7.

The medium is autoclaved for 20 minutes at 121 degrees.

Presentation

photo collage

Combining only the photos of the bacteria or combining the photos of the bacteria with photos from the person. If the collages are made in the same pattern, they are at the same time an individual portrait and comparable.

exhibition

Photos of each person's individual bacterial cultures are displayed side by side. This shows the answer to the question: How different are our bacteria?

To get to the bottom of the question 'is this a potential way to present oneself', comments are added by the volunteers. One to three sentences about their first thoughts when they saw their bacteria portraits.

Interactive part: In this experiment only 5 body parts are looked at. But there are many more bacteria to discover on human bodies. Therefore, petri dishes with colonies are provided. The visitors can guess which part of the body it is. The solution can then be looked at independently.

Project 2: bakteria exchange

How do bacteria from foreign bodies react when they meet. Can this be made visible?

File:bacteria exchange.pdf

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-==Idea==
+==Project 1: bacteria portrait==
-bacteria portrait
+[[File:10-35-34_211127-103534-1916f.jpg|600px]]
-[[File:p-image-005.jpg|400px]]
-I want to grow bacteria from different parts of my body on different petri dishes. The cultivated bacteria are to be assembled into a photo collage that represents a kind of self-portrait. Further idea: If this is successful, I could grow the personal bacteria of some volunteers. On the one hand, this would allow us to compare the results of different people. Can we detect a decisive difference? On the other hand, I would like to show that a picture or photo of ourselves is not the only way to represent ourselves.
+===Idea===
+The idea is to grow bacteria from different parts of the body in separate petri dishes. The cultivated bacteria are to be assembled into a kind of self-portrait.
+===Futher idea===
+The next step is to cultivate the body's own bacteria from volunteers. On the one hand, this gives us the opportunity to compare the results. Do our bacteria look similar? How individual are we on our skin? On the other hand, it shows a new side of ourselves. These portraits are meant to show that there is another way to present our self besides photos. But it is important to remember that this idea is a speculation and not a scientific experiment. There is no proof that the bacteria grown are actually endogenous.
-But it is important to remember that this idea is a speculation and not a scientific experiment. There is no proof that the cultured bacteria are actually endogenous.
+==Realisation==
+The bacteria are transferred from five different body sites to five different Petri dishes with a cotton swab: Petri dish (P.) A - eyes, P. B - oral cavity, P. C - belly button, P.D - vagina, P.E – feet
+The bacteria have grown for 2 weeks. The temperature was usually 20 degrees.
+<gallery>
+File:p-image-005.jpg|Pattern for a collage
+</gallery>
+<gallery>
+p-image-000.jpg|P. A-E after two weeks
+p-image-001.jpg
+p-image-002.jpg
+p-image-003.jpg
+p-image-004.jpg
+</gallery>
+<gallery>
+File:p-IMG00014.jpg|Microscopy
+File:p-IMG00018.jpg
+File:p-IMG00060.jpg
+File:p-IMG00064.jpg
+File:p-IMG00083.jpg
+File:p-IMG00146.jpg
+File:p-IMG00163.jpg
+File:p-IMG00169.jpg
+File:p-IMG00186.jpg
+</gallery>
 ==Medium==
-For the cultivation of bacteria you can use the LB - medium. It is the most popular medium for Escherichia coli bacteria.
+For the cultivation of bacteria you can use the LB - medium.
+===Ingredient===
 *Yeast extract (5g/l)
 *tryptone (10g/l)
@@ Line 16: / Line 46: @@
 *agar (15g/l)
 *sodium hydroxide to adjust the pH to 7.
 The medium is autoclaved for 20 minutes at 121 degrees.
-==Realisation==
+==Presentation==
-I used 5 Petri dishes. I transferred bacteria from different parts of the body into each dish with a cotton swab:
+===photo collage===
-Petri dish (P.) A - eyes, P. B - oral cavity, P. C - belly button, P.D - vagina, P.E - feet
+Combining only the photos of the bacteria or combining the photos of the bacteria with photos from the person. If the collages are made in the same pattern, they are at the same time an individual portrait and comparable.
-The bacteria have grown for 2 weeks. The temperature was usually 20 degrees.
+===exhibition===
+Photos of each person's individual bacterial cultures are displayed side by side. This shows the answer to the question: How different are our bacteria?
-<gallery>
+To get to the bottom of the question 'is this a potential way to present oneself', comments are added by the volunteers. One to three sentences about their first thoughts when they saw their bacteria portraits.
-p-image-000.jpg
-p-image-001.jpg
-p-image-002.jpg
-p-image-003.jpg
-p-image-004.jpg
-</gallery>
-P. A-E after two weeks
-==Presentation==
+Interactive part: In this experiment only 5 body parts are looked at. But there are many more bacteria to discover on human bodies. Therefore, petri dishes with colonies are provided. The visitors can guess which part of the body it is. The solution can then be looked at independently.
-There are several ways to present the portrait.
-One of them is a photo collage. Combining only the photos of the bacteria or combining the photos of the bacteria with photos from the person.
+==Project 2: bakteria exchange==
+How do bacteria from foreign bodies react when they meet. Can this be made visible?
-Another way of presenting is an exhibition. Each person would have their own wall. The photos could be presented individually and in close-up. Both, the direct photos and those under the microscope. Instead of showing the photos, one could also display the petri dishes with the bacteria. With a microscope provided, the visitors could actively participate.
+*[[:File:bacteria exchange.pdf]]
-Alternatively, the bacteria could be grown on a larger culture medium for better presentation.
+==References==
+*[https://www.cell.com/action/showPdf?pii=S2211-1247%2820%2930271-0 Spatial Ecology of the Human Tongue Dorsum Microbiome]
+*[http://www.nuritbarshai.com/objectivity/ Objectivity by Nurit Bar-Shai]
+*[https://www.mellissafisher.com/microbial-me Microbial Me by Mellissa Fisher]