Painting on a Petri Dish

As a self-proclaimed scientist, I don't usually spend a lot of my brain space on art, especially before this class, though I consider myself kind of versed in art. I mean, I'm not ignorant, I've looked at art.. but not really thought about art. I just had a passive stance, but now I've been really noticing art -- and how it affects things -- more frequently. I was reminded of this fact recently, when a girl whom I work with in lab, was talking about "painting" with RFP (red florescent protein). Shine a UV light on bacteria, and wherever the grow- they light up! She "paints" phylogenetic trees" on petri dishes -- they look so neat! I didn't have a picture of one of her trees, but I did find this picture of a beach!

The artist/scientist, Nathan Shaner, made this "living painting" of San Diego in 2006. He used the E. coli to express florescent proteins GFP, BFP, mTFP1, Emerald, Citrine, mOrange, mApple, mCherry, and mGrape. I think this is a great example of a really unique form of art, it's active art -- transient (those bacteria wont live forever on that plate), sciencey, and all kinds of goodness.

ENJOY!