Britt Wray, a research affiliate from Fluxmedia (Concordia University) currently undertaking a research post at Goldsmiths University, came to visit C-LAB for a tour of the lab and see some material of recent works in progress.
(Photo: Britt Wray)
Howard guided us through various research labs at the University of Westminster where he is currently based and undertaking research on synthetic biology as well as teaching and developing artworks.
Laura and Howard. (Photo: Britt Wray)
The tour included a quick visit to the microbial fermentation lab, an introduction to male fertility research involving optimising testosterone levels in mice, speaking with students shadowing researchers in the bioenergy lab, looking at cellulose production and carnivorous plant research and the production of medical biopolymer scaffolds.
Specialised plants. (Photo: Britt Wray)
Following this, Howard gave a demo of various works that included sniffing bacteria smelling of banana oil - Banana Bacteria.
Howard Boland's Banana Bacteria. (Photo: Britt Wray)
He demoed the workings of katE - a genetic switch (promoter) that he developed for his work, Stress-o-stat - where bacteria stress is used to produce light proteins, Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP).
Howard Boland's Stress-o-stat demo. (Photo: Britt Wray)
We also observed these bacteria using a fluorescent microscope and saw a construct in action using red fluorescent protein.
(Photo: Britt Wray)
Unfortunately due to a calibration issue, we were unable to show Britt how nanomagnetic particles could be used to influence and control the orientation of E.coli bacteria. See video below for how it works when calibrated.
(Photo: Britt Wray)
Finally, Howard demonstrated how biodegrading dye protocols were used in Transient Images.
(Photo: Britt Wray)
(Photo: Britt Wray)