GMU:DIY Biolab “Driver’s License”/Jiannan Zhang

29/11/2017----Reference to movie "Life"

Experimenting with one cellular organism, slime mold, physarum polycefalum

Similarity to human brain

to grow slime mold on different glasses in order to achieve 3d model

Maybe is better to start with simulation in order make needed paterns

Next stage would be with living organism: at the point when it is grown, to dry it

File:biolab-idea-jiannan-pdf.pdf

1.Experiment

15/12/2017---experiment 1: start with waking up the slime molds

To have better samples to build the art installation, try to wake up old slime molds samples by growing them in the medium.

four samples:

A-normal medium(pure agar, salt, yeast, water..)+8-10 pieces of cereals

B-normal medium

C&D-normal medium+wet and old filter paper

samples are kept in dark lockers under 20 degrees



20/12/2017---experiment 2: waking up new slime molds samples from Sinan

samples from the last experiment failed.

Sample A was seriously contaminated. Nothing happened in sample B, C, &D

reason could be too much cereals or others

repeat the experiment with 3 more samples:

all in same condition: medium(Compound agar, water...)+1 piece of cereal

samples are kept in dark lockers under 24-26 degrees

21/12/2017---Update on experiment 2: bacteria

the samples look like contaminated by some bacteria in the middle

23/12/2017---Update on experiment 2: failed

the samples are contaminated and slime molds didn't wake up

reasons could be the temperature was too warm for the slime molds, food was too little and it was not humid enough inside the mediums

02/01/2018---experiment 3: grow new samples(from sinan) under suitable temperature

repeat the experiment with 4 more samples:

all in same condition: medium(Compound agar, water...)+3 pieces of cereal

A-sealed and kept on a shelf, 20 degrees;

B-not sealed and in a locker, 22 degrees;

C-sealed and kept in a locker, 22 degrees;

D-not sealed and kept on a shelf, 20 degrees.

08/01/2018---Update on experiment 3: possibly slime molds once woke up but died afterwards

all the samples are contaminated to some extend, but sample B shows similar trace of growing slime molds according to the shape

I will try this sample again and another ones with new humid filter papers and wood chips(which i searched online are good mediums for slime molds)

got the sections of the human brain model, 10 layers in total

10/01/2018---Experiment 4: comparing mushroom and oat flakes as food, agar and filter paper as medium

after research on the growth of slime molds in lab, Sinan and i decided to try different food and medium.

it was suggested to use humid filter paper or wood chips as the living environment of slime molds. However it is not easy to get fresh and clean wood chips. but filter paper is quite easy to acquire in our lab. And slime molds in nature often take mushrooms as their main food. In this case we would like to see if there would be any changes after we use different medium and food.

To provide enough space for mushroom and slime molds, i had 2 large petri dishes. I also prepared 2 normal sized petri dishes to make a comparison.

A-medium: agar, food: oat flakes;

B-medium: humid filter paper, food: oat flakes;

C-medium: agar, food: mushroom slices;

D-medium: filter paper, food: mushroom slices.

All the samples were taken home and kept in dark environment, under 24 degrees. The samples with filter papers were filled with drops of water every day to keep them humid.\

12/01/2018---Update on experiment 4

After 2 days' growth, the samples with agar show different levels of contamination.

On the contrary, there is nearly no change in the samples with filter papers, no contamination, no growth of slime molds.

In the meantime, I cut a 2mm thick plexiglass in to 70mm*70mm square pieces to build my prototype.