{"id":6548,"date":"2019-10-17T08:30:36","date_gmt":"2019-10-17T08:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gtechbooster.com\/?p=6548"},"modified":"2019-10-17T08:30:00","modified_gmt":"2019-10-17T08:30:00","slug":"e-coli-could-be-the-next-raspberry-pi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gtechbooster.com\/e-coli-could-be-the-next-raspberry-pi\/","title":{"rendered":"E.coli could be the next Raspberry Pi"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

No, it’s not a story about food poisoning or any thing at all to do with it. A new paper suggests that; with the right encouragement and understanding of the IoT crowd could change their hardware from silicon to bacteria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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With a little more knowledge and a change in the way we view biology, hardware hackers could revolutionize the way many tasks are done. The paper by Raphael Kim and Stefan Poslad from Queen Mary University (London, UK) argue that the common bacterium E.coli<\/em> is just like a Raspberry Pi:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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E.coli<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Of course to program such “devices” we are going to have to learn how\n to work with DNA and indeed living cells. You workbench is going to \nlook more like a biology lab than an electronics station. How are we to \nmake this transition:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“DIY Biology movement promotes \nincreasing accessibility and affordability of tools, data, and materials\n of biotechnology. It capitalizes on the changing economic landscape of \nmodern biotechnology industry, represented by the continually declining \ncost of DNA synthesis and sequencing. Currently, tools and techniques to\n run small-scale experiments with micro-organisms are widely available \nto the general public, through various channels, including maker spaces.\n Furthermore, there are supportive kits too.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But microbes are dangerous aren’t they?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Bacteria, especially E.coli, make an \nideal tool for biohacking projects, given that they are easy to acquire,\n culture, and maintain. The industry standard strain K-12 E.coli, for \nexample, which are used in Amino lab, are relatively safe to handle. \nThey have been engineered to be non-pathogenic and difficult to spread \noutside of the laboratory environment. Unlike most species of bacteria, \nthe K-12 strain can be purchased relatively easily in the U.S and most \nparts of Europe.”<\/em><\/p>

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I checked and yes you can buy the K-12 for a few dollars from educational suppliers. The part that mystifies me a little is the suggestion that we can “gamify bacteria”. Given that the motivation of the DIY community in general is simply to do it I’m not sure gamification is needed. What really is needed are some good examples and some affordable starter kits. At the moment the starter kits that are available seem to have instructive rather than useful outcomes. For example, the Engineer it Kit by Amino Labs creates E.coli<\/em> that create different colored proteins:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Engineer it Kit by Amino Labs<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Is this the “hello world” of the bio IoT? If it is, where do we go \nnext? Most DIYers want to create things that are useful or impressive \nand my impression is that creating such things using biological \ntechnology stands a good chance of changing something harmless into \nsomething that might be a threat – plastic eating E.coli<\/em> anyone? What could possibly go wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the paper concludes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Although highly-engineered bacteria may provide efficient communication systems, ultimately, they are biological entities, which can produce unexpected outcomes (e.g. mutations). All in all, whilst the use of bacteria in IoT and HCI offer exciting opportunities, they also present fresh ethical challenges, which provide extra paths for discourse.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

About Escherichia coli (E.coli)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Discovered by Theodor Escherich in 1885. Escherichia coli <\/em>(E. coli<\/em>) is a gram-negative, facultative anaerobic, rod-shaped bacterium normally found in the intestines of  intestine of humans and animals. Most strains  are harmless and an important part of a healthy intestinal tract.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interesting Facts:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n