Prokaryote playhouse: A low-cost, laser-cut acrylic incubator for optogenetic bacterial culture
Bacterial photography is a printing technique that replaces conventional photochemistry with a living film of engineered Escherichia coli. Many biology teaching labs have adopted monochrome bacterial photography because it offers a captivating playground for illustrating central concepts and lab tec...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2021-04-01
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| Series: | HardwareX |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468067221000134 |
| _version_ | 1818832777799270400 |
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| author | Jin Wu David Dellal Steven Wasserman |
| author_facet | Jin Wu David Dellal Steven Wasserman |
| author_sort | Jin Wu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Bacterial photography is a printing technique that replaces conventional photochemistry with a living film of engineered Escherichia coli. Many biology teaching labs have adopted monochrome bacterial photography because it offers a captivating playground for illustrating central concepts and lab techniques in biological engineering, particularly in the fields of synthetic biology and optogenetics. Recent improvements have increased the number of color channels from one to three. A key practical challenge in three-color printing is to expose a Petri dish loaded with engineered bacteria to a trichromatic image while maintaining it at 37 °C. Prokaryote Playhouse is a compact, inexpensive, open-source, benchtop incubator for light-sensitive bacterial cultures that makes bacterial photography and similar bacterial optogenetic methods more accessible to teaching labs, makerspaces, and research labs. The system includes a laser-cut, light-tight enclosure; digital thermostat; heated sample shelf; single-board computer; and miniature projector. We built a fleet of Prokaryote Playhouses that students have used to produce hundreds of bacterial photographs in a wide range of educational experiences, ranging from a four-hour introduction to synthetic biology and wet lab techniques to a six-week exploratory class for first-year students at MIT. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-19T02:08:26Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-eb312b6c313b451a81e51d5c265268a2 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2468-0672 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-19T02:08:26Z |
| publishDate | 2021-04-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | HardwareX |
| spelling | doaj.art-eb312b6c313b451a81e51d5c265268a22022-12-21T20:40:52ZengElsevierHardwareX2468-06722021-04-019e00184Prokaryote playhouse: A low-cost, laser-cut acrylic incubator for optogenetic bacterial cultureJin Wu0David Dellal1Steven Wasserman2Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Department of System Design and Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USADepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USADepartment of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USABacterial photography is a printing technique that replaces conventional photochemistry with a living film of engineered Escherichia coli. Many biology teaching labs have adopted monochrome bacterial photography because it offers a captivating playground for illustrating central concepts and lab techniques in biological engineering, particularly in the fields of synthetic biology and optogenetics. Recent improvements have increased the number of color channels from one to three. A key practical challenge in three-color printing is to expose a Petri dish loaded with engineered bacteria to a trichromatic image while maintaining it at 37 °C. Prokaryote Playhouse is a compact, inexpensive, open-source, benchtop incubator for light-sensitive bacterial cultures that makes bacterial photography and similar bacterial optogenetic methods more accessible to teaching labs, makerspaces, and research labs. The system includes a laser-cut, light-tight enclosure; digital thermostat; heated sample shelf; single-board computer; and miniature projector. We built a fleet of Prokaryote Playhouses that students have used to produce hundreds of bacterial photographs in a wide range of educational experiences, ranging from a four-hour introduction to synthetic biology and wet lab techniques to a six-week exploratory class for first-year students at MIT.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468067221000134OptogeneticsIncubatorBacterial cultureSynthetic biologyGenetic engineeringEducation |
| spellingShingle | Jin Wu David Dellal Steven Wasserman Prokaryote playhouse: A low-cost, laser-cut acrylic incubator for optogenetic bacterial culture HardwareX Optogenetics Incubator Bacterial culture Synthetic biology Genetic engineering Education |
| title | Prokaryote playhouse: A low-cost, laser-cut acrylic incubator for optogenetic bacterial culture |
| title_full | Prokaryote playhouse: A low-cost, laser-cut acrylic incubator for optogenetic bacterial culture |
| title_fullStr | Prokaryote playhouse: A low-cost, laser-cut acrylic incubator for optogenetic bacterial culture |
| title_full_unstemmed | Prokaryote playhouse: A low-cost, laser-cut acrylic incubator for optogenetic bacterial culture |
| title_short | Prokaryote playhouse: A low-cost, laser-cut acrylic incubator for optogenetic bacterial culture |
| title_sort | prokaryote playhouse a low cost laser cut acrylic incubator for optogenetic bacterial culture |
| topic | Optogenetics Incubator Bacterial culture Synthetic biology Genetic engineering Education |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468067221000134 |
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