A tale of the city OR In the era of i..

There was iGem (international Genetically Engineered Machine).

The UCL iGEM 2012 team proposes a synthetic biology approach for the degradation of micro-plastic pollutants (plastic waste that is gradually broken down by solar energy and the mechanical action of the sea) within the marine environment, with emphasis on regions of excessive debris accumulation, such as the North Pacific ‘garbage patch’.

Apart from their research they tried to engage the public into synthetic biology. Their first idea was to run a lab in an art gallery so that everyone could come and see them. But it was quite complicated so they decided to run workshops where the public could participate. Yesterday they teamed up with a group of "biohackers" to create the world's first "Public BioBrick" at the Grant Museum of Zoology in London. The biohackers is a group of biology enthusiasts that run their own biological experiments. C-lab also participated in the event.

The event took place in the UCL Museum of Zoology, which I hadn't visited before although I have been around this area for four years. It's an impressive building and the museum is definitely worth-visiting.

The night was fun.
 There was music..

a molecular cocktail bar..

we ran experiments..

and read comics about synthetic biology and about the iGEM project.

The students were very enthusiastic, ready to talk to everyone, explain their project and get everyone involved. So were the biohackers.

And who knows, maybe one day we will use synthetic micro-organisms to degrade the plastic waste concentrated in the marine environment. And maybe this day won't be very far away..