Grown in a petri-dish on a layer of agar-agar—which is the growth medium for most bacteria—different microbes of different colours are grown and 'trimmed' to fit the rendition of the artist.
Can bacteria like Staphylococcus or Salmonella be turned into art? Well, the American Society of Microbiology (ASM), believes that it is quite possible!
At the recently held ASM Agar Art contest 2018, participants ranged from university researchers to children under 12, and all of them had one goal—to make art out of microbes.
Grown in a petri-dish on a layer of agar-agar—which is the growth medium for most bacteria—different microbes of different colours are grown and ‘trimmed’ to fit the rendition of the artist.
From microbes that give off a bright red colour, to genetically modified bacteria that glow in the dark, the colours and textures are a veritable field of choices.
In the contest, Bornali Bhattacharjee from the National Institute of Biomedical Genomics, India, won the second place in the participant category of researchers of ASM society.
The winning art along with their creators are mentioned below. All of the images belong to ASM and/or their creators.
1st Place
The battle of winter and spring
Ana Tsitsishvili, Undergraduate Student, Agricultural University of Georgia, Tbilisi, Georgia
2nd Place
My yellow vision!
Bornali Bhattacharjee, Ph.D., Ramanujan Fellow, National Institute of Biomedical Genomics, Kalyani, India
3rd Place
Sustenance
Mehmet Berkmen, Ph.D., Senior Scientist, New England Biolabs, Ipswich, MA, United States
Maria Peñil Cobo, Mixed Media Artist, Beverly, MA, United States
People’s Choice
A Salmonellosis Odyssey
María Laura Echarren,
Ph.D. Student, Universidad Nacional de Rosario, Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario, Rosario, Argentina
Besides the researchers, as mentioned above, the contest is also open to students above and below age 12.
1st Place
Serratia octopus
Tiare Ribeaux
Patrik D’haeseleer
Created at Counter Culture Labs, Oakland, CA.
2nd Place
The Sitting President
Daniel Pham
Created at Baltimore Underground Science Space, Baltimore, MD.
3rd Place
A Bumble Bee, Bacteria, and Mold: Could this be art in the making?
Allison Granberry
Students below the age 12 made these spectacular pieces as well.
1st Place
The Magnificent Butterfly
Kate Lin
Age 10
Created at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory DNA Learning Center, Cold Spring Harbor, NY.
2nd Place
Blue Tulip
Simran Bhattacharya
Age 11
Created at TheLab, Inc., Los Angeles, CA.
3rd Place
Ocean and windy breeze
Alice Laun
Age 5
Created at Baltimore Underground Science Space, Baltimore, MD.
(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)
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