[sudo-discuss] sudo make me a circuit

[Patrik D'haeseleer]

Hmm... just saw this clause in the rules
<https://www.asm.org/Events/2019-ASM-Agar-Art-Contest/Submission-Rules>:

"Non-microbial props within the piece are also not allowed."


So I say Fuck'em - let's do it anyway, and do such an awesome job that they
get so embarrassed that they have to make a special prize just for us! :-D

Patrik

On Tue, Sep 24, 2019 at 10:40 AM Patrik D'haeseleer <patrikd at gmail.com>
wrote:

> I have a potentially prize winning idea, but I need your help...
>
> As you might know, I've been teaching Agar Art workshops at CCL - painting
> with colored bacteria! Next session is this coming Monday
> <https://www.meetup.com/Counter-Culture-Labs/events/264878488/>. The
> American Society for Microbiology is holding a yearly Agar Art Contest
> <https://www.asm.org/Events/2019-ASM-Agar-Art-Contest/Home> that we can
> submit some of our best work to.
>
> My idea is to embed a little LED circuit *in the agar* in a Petri plate,
> light up a UV LED, and then trace the circuit on top of the agar in
> fluorescent E. coli!
>
> Here's the part I need your help with... we'll need to experiment a bit
> with different circuit implementations to figure out what works best. I can
> easily solder a little "throwie" circuit myself, but I don't think I'll
> have time to go through half a dozen designs to see what works best (or at
> all). So ideally I'd love to partner up with somebody why can crank out a
> couple circuit versions while I focus on the wetlab side. You'll get full
> share of the credit and any prize money of course.
>
> A couple complications:
>
>    - I would love to be able to autoclave the circuit before embedding it
>    in agar, to eliminate any possible contamination. This involves heating to
>    121C/250F for 20 minutes under steam. Not sure which materials will stand
>    up to that (batteries? plastic LED?)
>    - The normal E. coli growth medium is quite conductive. We should be
>    able to use a medium without salt, but it will likely still have some
>    conductivity. We could try coat the entire circuit in clear epoxy to
>    insulate it though.
>    - The circuit will still need to give off enough light after been
>    embedded in agar for several days. Coin cell throwies do last a couple
>    days, but UV LEDs are a bit more power hungry, so perhaps we could try a
>    AAA?
>    - Having the UV LED on continuously may not be healthy for the
>    bacteria growing on top, so we may need to include a Reed switch or some
>    other mechanism to turn the LED on remotely.
>    - More complicated circuits = extra awesomesauce! Can we build a
>    circuit that measures the pH in the agar under an acid producing bacteria?
>    Create a grid of electrodes that affects the growth of bacteria growing on
>    top of it?
>    - Ideally, the whole circuit would fit inside a 10cm Petri dish -
>    let's call it 9.5cm diameter, and no more than about 1cm in height. If
>    necessary, we do have access to larger and deeper Petri dishes though.
>
> Patrik
>
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