We built an inspiring cooperation with the artists participating in the joint project “not invented by nature” by the DKFZ, the Heidelberg University, the Heidelberger Life Science Lab as well as the Bauhaus University Weimar. One may ask what art and synthetic biology have in common. To answer this question is the very aim of this cooperation. The visiting artists were introduced to basic methods in synthetic biology such as working with bacteria and mammalian cells, cloning DNA, protein expression and analytical evaluation of their results by e.g. microscopy and gel-electrophoresis. After an introductory lab-course, they plan to work in our lab, gain experiences and work on their exhibits. Discussion rounds and mutual presentations accompany this collaboration.

We thank the international group of artists, participating in this project: Howard Boland, Joanna Hoffmann-Dietrich, Ji Hyun Park and Miguel Santos for their philosophical and creative input and a completely new point of view on synthetic biology which itself can be regarded as artistic: Out of existing small pieces, one creates something synthetic, thus entirely new. This would also implicate that in every project in synthetic biology one can find a piece of its scientific creator, which is, after all, a soothing thought.

Read about Joanna Hoffmann-Dietrich's experience and adaptation of our project: