Week 6: Biotech + Art

This week’s discussion regarding biotechnology with art really intrigued me. I work in a research lab at UCLA that incorporates biotechnology such as CRISPR. As Dr. Vesna mentioned, there has been a lot of debate regarding the defining factors of biotechnology used as art. This leads to ethical questions and controversies over matters such as animal experimentation and gene editing. I work with transgenic mice daily in the lab, and therefore, I witness some of the incredible technology that allows for controlled experimentation but that might also lead to certain questions about the ethics of such experiments.

                                          CRISPR explained Visually

 One of the most influential artists in the biotechnology field is Joe Davis. His ideas were often considered insane, but he pioneered the field of bio-art (Vesna). He allowed for audio microscopy where one can hear the response of different cells and their acoustic signature (Davis). He looked at genes and DNA in a different manner. They were his artistic medium. Davis would synthesize and insert DNA into bacteria, particularly E.Coli. His visions for these projects were fascinating; he wanted to embed a sign of human intelligence in these prokaryotes. After researching Davis’s work further, I found that he also began to genetically modify trees. He planned to take 50,000 of the most popular Wikipedia pages and embed them into a literal “tree of knowledge” (Beverley).

                                          Joe Davis plans to genetically modify apple trees.

 Another amazing, Nobel-prize worthy creation belongs to Craig Venter. He took genetic editing to a completely different level by attempting to create an organism from scratch. Venter used synthesizers to create small fragments of DNA and utilized bacteria to amplify and expand that DNA (Rosser). He successfully created the first synthesized bacterial cell. This cell has 531,000 base pairs and just 473 genes (Venter). The simple thought of attempting to create an entire genome leaves me in awe.

                                          Craig Venter's Ted Talk

Sources:

Davis, Joe. “Audio Microscope.” Audio Microscope: Joe Davis : Genetics and Culture, 2000, geneticsandculture.com/genetics_culture/pages_genetics_culture/gc_w03/davis_audio_scope.htm

Mitchell, Beverley. “Bio-Artist Joe Davis to Build a Genetically Modified 'Tree of Knowledge' With Wikipedia Pages.” Inhabitat Green Design Innovation Architecture Green Building, Inhabitat, 16 May 2014, inhabitat.com/tree-of-knowledge-bio-artist-joe-davis-to-insert-dna-encoded-version-of-wikipedia-into-apples/.

Rosser, Susan. “We've Learned to Read Our Genes. Now We Need to Start Writing Them | Susan Rosser.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 4 June 2016, www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jun/04/learned-to-read-genes-now-start-writing-them.

Venter, Craig. “TEDxCaltech - J. Craig Venter - Future Biology.” YouTube, YouTube, 16 Feb. 2011, www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdgfzdlgUHw.

Vesna, Victoria. “5 Bioart pt1 1280x720.” YouTube, YouTube, 18 Sept. 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=493&v=PaThVnA1kyg.