Activities of the mikroBIOMIK Society

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Here is an incomplete summary of what happened in the last few years:

October 2024

Project days “Research in the Tiny Forest“

One year after planting the Tiny Forest in Berlin-Wittenau, we have entered the second round of research workshops. This time, a 7th grade from Thomas Mann Gymnasium was able to investigate the ecosystem in the Märkisches Viertel together with Julian Chollet and Marina Larsen. In teams of two, the pupils examined the trees and herbaceous plants in their research field, counted insects and took soil samples. In the second part of the workshop, we delved into the microscopic world of the pedosphere: in addition to rotifers, springtails and nematodes, we discovered a mite and examined mycelium and woodlice with a binocular.

The workshops were supported by Berlin Energie und Wärme AG - many thanks to Gissela Riccio and Barbara Richtsteiger. We look forward to the next workshops in spring 2025.

September 2024

Insights into the microworld at Kiezfest Eberswalde

The Kiezfest provides a platform for local culture and brings together the residents of Eberswalde. With perfect late summer weather, visitors at our booth had the opportunity to examine microscopic samples from nature. People of all ages were able to discover fascinating details of plants, insects and microorganisms through the microscope - things that are invisible in everyday life.

Many thanks to Bresser for providing the microscopes and to Michel for the photos.

August 2024

Chromatography Workshop @PIFcamp

2-day workshop in the beautiful nature of Soča valley, Slovenija. With Circular Chromatography we transformed samples of the surrounding soils into vibrant images and marveled about the meaning of their colors and patterns.

Many thanks to all workshop participants, the wonderful PIFcamp crew and especially to Saša Spačal for hosting this workshop with me.

Photos from Tine Lisjak & Katja Goljat.

A side project bears first fruits

Last winter, Julian visited a friend who had recently found some very old trunks of silver fir in a natural pond. The wood was dated to be around 6500 years old and is still well preserved. While cutting a few planks the idea came up to grow mushrooms on the sawdust. Although fir is generally not considered a good substrate, pleurotus pulmonarius seems to like it a lot.

Many thanks to Jani for providing the sawdust and to Martin & Urša for helping with sterilizing and inoculation.

July 2024

Short guides & T-Shirts

Finally, all rewards for our crowdfunding campaign supporters have been sent out! We printed the guides at a charming local print shop, and instead of using staples, we opted for saddle stitching – it’s not only more stylish and durable but also a joy to create. The T-shirts, made from fair-trade organic cotton, were printed at a small screen printing workshop and look fantastic.

Thanks again to everyone who supported us! Please let us know if you have not yet received your reward.

June 2024

Chromatography Workshop in Ljubljana

As part of his residency at Zavod Projekt Atol in Ljubljana, Julian ran a 2-day soil chromatography workshop. The aptly named "Krater" was a perfect location. The creative lab in an construction pit has very versatile soil conditions, provided us with an amazing darkroom in one of the containers and most importantly: it attracted very kind and interested participants.

Many thanks to all who joined us. The pictures were taken by Katja Goljat.

April 2024

HUMUS sapiens workshop at Bard College

As part of the Experimental Humanities Collaborative Network (EHCN), Julian and Malte were invited to explore soil life with students from different study programs. The workshop was interdisciplinary, international and full of interspecies communication. Some microbes seemed to enjoy being in the spotlight.

Many thanks to Antonia von Schöning and Janina Schabig for the invitation. The pictures were taken by Janina Schabig.

Workshops at Thomas-Mann-Gymnasium

Development of a didactic concept and workshop format for the integration of a TinyForest into the educational work at Thomas-Mann-Gymnasium Berlin. The concept enables long-term observation and research of the Tiny Forest by the pupils. The changes in the ecosystem are observed over many years, the data is collected and archived in the form of posters. The first two workshops - with a 7th and a 9th grade - were supervised by Malte Larsen and Julian Chollet.

The preparation and realization of the workshops was financed by Vattenfall Wärme Berlin AG. Many thanks to Gissela Riccio and Barbara Richtsteiger for their great support in organizing and supervising the pupils. The pictures are by Malte Larsen.

March 2024

Start of our crowdfunding campaign

February 2024

New short guide about fungal bioreactors

In our download area you can now find a short guide to the construction and operation of fungal bioreactors. So far in German and English - hopefully soon also in other languages.

All mikroBIOMIK publications are distributed under a CreativeCommons licence (usually CC BY-SA). We are happy if the material circulates. Print versions and other formats of the works are available on archive.org.

October 2023

Video online: Construction of a fungal bioreactor (IBC container design).

In this video, Malte presents a low-tech method for producing a "soil inoculant" with an extremely high density and diversity of fungi. The product can be used for soil regeneration in rural and urban areas.

Many thanks to the Chair of Business Informatics, Processes and Systems at the University of Potsdam for creating the video and to the Machbar Potsdam for organizing the workshop.

August 2023

Bioreactors in Berlin

Together with the foundation anstiftung we organised a workshop on the construction of fungal bioreactors for the production of high-quality microbial soil conditioner. The participants came from different (garden-)initiatives of the anstiftung network. Many thanks to Gudrun Walesch for the smooth organisation and support of our work!

June 2023

Microscopy and Soil Life Workshop in Dahnsdorf

The “old barn” in Dahnsdorf is to be revived as a lost place and contribute to the transformation of Brandenburg. A wide variety of change makers gathered to share their knowledge and experience with one another. Among them were Fräulein Brehm and her animal theatre, the society for mikroBIOMIK, Daniel Diehl from Ahrensnest and others.

Tim and Leo traveled to Dahnsdorf on behalf of mikroBIOMIK to share their knowledge about soil life. After a short lecture, things got dirty. Young and old alike searched enthusiastically in different soil samples to find isopods, nematodes, fungi, amoebae and earthworms. These were examined with their hands and eyes or under the microscope. The workshop felt like a complete success after the children got their friends to show them their discoveries under the microscope.

Kickoff: "Islands of the Day Before"

We are starting a new collaboration with „Islands of the Day Before“ - a project that uses urban farming innovation, gastronomy and microbial science as a way to interface the public with local fluvial ecologies.
Julian build a fungal bioreactor on site and performed a preliminary soil-food-web assessment in preparation of a scientific study on microbial soil regeneration. Stay tuned.

March 2023

Workshop at Biotopia Lab in Munich

As part of "Fruit-City", an initiative for the preservation of orchards, we introduced the visitors of the Biotopia Lab to the world of soil microbes. After a theoretical introduction, the participants were able to microscopically explore soil samples at five different work stations. Together with Chiara, Tim, Tassilo, Lotta and Malte, we thus covered the soil part of the workshop series.

Bioreactor at Freiland e.V. Potsdam

In cooperation with the network of open workshops Brandenburg, Malte and Leo built the first IBC bioreactor at Freiland e.V. Potsdam together with committed participants. The reactor creates the perfect conditions for cultivating fungi and nitrogen-fixing soil organisms - a tool for the agriculture of the future. Students at the University of Potsdam create a video tutorial and a handout for farmers as part of the module "Design-oriented research in business informatics".

Soil workshop in Maribor

Julian gave a workshop on soil organisms for children at the GT22 educational laboratory in Maribor, Slovenia. We used different types of professional and homemade microscopes to observe all the little creatures crawling, creeping and swimming through soil, compost and leaves.

February 2023

Lecture at the "Soil Assembly" of the Kochi Biennale

An international gathering of artists, designers, curators, architects, educators, activists, farmers, and hackers to support the freedom of exchange and sharing of knowledge. It is an active dissemination of a humanistic/biodiverse/holistic approach within notions of food growing practices, more-than-human correlations in these practices and life, as well as the freedom of movement for plants, animals, humans, algae, fungi and seeds. [Description from the website]

Malte presents our work on Fungal Bioreactors as well as our collaboration with MIYA e.V.

A summary of the event can be found here.

January 2023

Our download area is online

Just in time for the new year, we have opened our download area. The guides on soil microscopy and chromatography are already available in English, Spanish and Indonesian (Bahasa). The soil microscopy guide is also available in German. We are working on further translations as well as new publications, but urgently need funding for this. If you have a tip, would like to support our work, or give feedback on the guides, we would be happy to receive your email.

All mikroBIOMIK publications are distributed under a CreativeCommons licence (usually CC BY-SA). We are happy if the material circulates. Print versions and other formats of the works are available on archive.org.

Many thanks to UROŠ and of course to all authors, translators and designers.

October 2022

Microbial mud-generators in Maribor (Slovenia)

A child-friendly workshop on microbial fuel cells made from mud and recycled materials. Many thanks to Monika Pocrnjić for help and translation, and to the staff of the adventure playground "Doživljajsko igrišče" for the great place.

We were able to use here for the first time our bilingual guide, which was created earlier this year in cooperation with the konS network.

The pictures are by Julian Chollet & Boštjan Lah.

July 2022

Mushroom stem and soil cultures in Forst (Brandenburg)

At Schöner Land e. V. in Forst, we gave a 2-day workshop on stem and soil cultures together with Wolli, Micha and Malte to enable the permaculture project to grow mushrooms. The Network of Open Workshops organised and financed the event.

May 2022

Circular chromatography and fungal bioreactors in Slovenia

This Soil Research Week was organized in the framework of the project series “UROŠ - Ubiquitous Rural Open Science Hardware”. Many thanks to Zavod Rizoma for offering the research location & infrastructure. The UROŠ project has been supported financially as part of the konS ≡ Platform for Contemporary Investigative Arts.

We continue to work on both projects and will eventually publish “Short Guide”-Zines on the topics.

Circular soil chromatography

Fungal bioreactors

March 2022

„Fungal compost bioreactor“ Version 3.0

With this new version, we created a scaleable and low-maintenance bioreactor that is optimally integrated into the workflows of the park management. The previous prototype already produced really good compost, but it was not big enough for the amount of material that had to be processed and a more convenient solution for loading the substrate had to be found.

We plan to publish a How-To Zine with detailed instructions within the next couple of months, so please stay tuned. If you know a park, farm, large garden or other place where considerable amounts of organic “waste” have to be transformed into valuable humus, please feel free to contact us.

3rd Agriculture Day in Wartaweil

The BUND Naturschutz, the Bavarian Farmers' Association (BBV) and the Office of Food, Agriculture and Forestry Weilheim in Upper Bavaria (AELF) had chosen soil life as their topic this year. The aim of this meeting was to bring agriculture, nature conservation and society together in an intensive exchange.

During two HUMUS sapiens workshops, the participants were able to examine soil samples they had brought with them from fields and meadows and thereby befriended many different microorganisms. In the afternoon there were several presentations and a panel discussion.

Many thanks to Constanze Gentz and Helene Falk for the organization as well as to Christine Starostzik for the pictures.

January 2022

Remote workshop on microbial fuel cells

It does work digitally: a workshop on microbial fuel cells - from a distance and yet somehow in the middle of Mz*Baltazar's lab. Soon there will be another follow-up event to see how our mud-generators have matured and how we can optimize the electrical performance.

November 2021

„Fungal compost bioreactor“ Version 2.0

The first batch of compost is ripe and an optimised version of the composting plant has just been filled with oak leaves. The modifications improve moisture regulation and ventilation from the bottom of the containers. In addition, we started working on designs to make the facility more easily scalable. We will keep you informed.

September 2021

News from the „Fashion to soil“ project

Malte and Leo are busy cultivating and experimenting. The textiles are well colonized and the first results look promising. In order to produce really high-quality compost, the next step is to further transform the substrate with the help of worms.

August 2021

mikroBIOMIK @PIFcamp Slovenija

This year Julian worked on Soil-Based Microbial Fuel Cells and participated in a "Brewing Beer for Hackers" workshop led by Rob Canning and Monika Pocrnjić.

Many thanks to all the wonderful people there!! :)

More Information on the PIFcamp Website
Images: Katja Goljat

April 2021

Start of the „Fashion to soil“ project

Initial experiments are currently being conducted on the decomposition of various textiles with "Pleurotus ostreatus", "Trametes versicolor" and "Fusarium oxysporum". How quickly are the textile substrates colonized by the different fungal species? What is the degree of decomposition of the fibers after two weeks?

Leo is new with us and works on this promising project together with Malte in the Biopunk-Kitchen.

March 2021

„Fungal compost bioreactor“ in Berlin park

At the end of last year, a static composting plant was set up in Wuhlheide in cooperation with FEZ-Berlin to turn large quantities of oak leaves into humus. Malte developed the concept and mixed the leaves with special fungal cultures and compost worms. With the temperatures slowly getting more mild, the decomposition is picking up speed.

October 2020

Workshops at the Biotopia Lab Munich

We were invited to conduct a few „teach-the-teachers“ workshops at the Biotopia Lab in Munich on the following topics: Fungi4future, HUMUS sapiens, Microbial Ecosystems, Intelligent Amoebae and Kombucha Biodesign. It was great fun and as soon as the lab is open to the public again you should definitely stop by.

Many thanks to all participants and especially to Simone Gaab for the organization and to Kathrin Glaw for the pictures. Here are some impressions from 2 of the workshops - more will follow.

Fungi4future workshop with Malte

HUMUS sapiens workshop with Julian

August 2020

Workshop in Bohinjska Bistrica

Directly after PIFcamp, Julian gave a HUMUS sapiens workshop in Bohinjska Bistrica: a lively and family friendly afternoon with lot’s of time outside. We were digging holes and found hundreds of tiny creatures. One participant had to take a rest from all the exitement. ;)

Many thanks for the invitation to Urška from KAMRA Art Projekt Bohinj as well as Tina & Uroš from Projekt Atol. Those wonderful pictures are from Matjaž Rušt.

August 2020

HUMUS sapiens @PIFcamp Slovenija

This year with fewer participants but at least as much action: Herbalism with Dario & Darja, soil scanning and microscopy with Julian, hiking, music, etc. Many thanks to all the wonderful people there!! :)

More Information on the PIFcamp Website
Images: Katja Goljat & Matjaž Rušt

July 2020

HLabX Reflections in Zürich

The Hackteria Network was meeting in Zurich to reflect on the last decade of activities, dream about futures projects and launch a new local program at their recently inaugurated OpenScience Lab. We had some interesting talks, discussions and workshops and the evenings were filled with performances and jam sessions.

Many thanks to Marc & Maya for organizing.

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Due to the COVID-19 pandemic we unfortunately have to postpone all workshops planned for April and May.

The mikroBIOMIK Society is exclusively concerned with friendly microbes - if you want information about SARS-CoV-2, take a look at the Website of Mona.

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May 2020

HUMUS sapiens tree sponsorships

As a thank you for two generous supporters of our last crowdfunding campaign we planted a morello cherry (Prunus cerasus subsp. Acida) and a peach (Prunus persica) a few months ago. Both trees are now finally getting their first green and look very healthy. For the cherry we chose a half-shaded location and for the peach we chose a sheltered place - as soon as the peach grows larger than the blackberry hedge it will get plenty of sun.

Thanks a lot for your support!!

March 2020

mikroBIOMIK @ biopunk.kitchen Potsdam

In this wonderful community laboratory Malte is working on an open source "gene library" for fungal species. In order to support sustainable projects (e.g. in agriculture), we would like to provide access to these species in an open and transparent way. There are already 42 cultures in the library. If you have any questions, please write to malte@mikrobiomik.org

December 2019

Talk about HUMUS sapiens at the Chaos Communication Congress

Maya, Malte and Julian had the great honor of giving a lecture at the annual hacker conference. Afterwards the discussions continued in the tea tent.

October 2019

HUMUS sapiens retreat

From the 25th to the 27nd of Oktober 2019 a bunch of humus enthusiast were meeting at Projekt Draussen. Similar to last years retreats, the participants came from very diverse backgrounds and contributed their own unique perspectives.

More Information:

September 2019

Humus, Humanity & Humility @Ars Electronica, Linz

Julian was on site to dig some holes in a cobblestone courtyard of the university...

many thanks to the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, the Kunstuniversität Linz and the Organizers of Ars Electronica.

Report about the Shared Habitats exhibition (Bauhaus-Universität Weimar)
Booklet for the installation Humus, Humanity & Humility

August 2019

mikroBIOMIK @PIFcamp Slovenija

This year under the motto "DITOxication". Many thanks to all those amazing people there!! :)

PIFcamp Website

Some impressions... soon more.

July 2019

mikroBIOMIK @Ex-Teppich Erlangen

Many thanks to Jochen Hunger and Alessandro Volpato for the organization.

Ex-Teppich Website

Humus workshop by Julian

Fungi workshop by Malte

Mai 2019

HUMUS sapiens and the Extreme Biopolitical Bistro @Biotopia EAT Festival in Munich

Earth is more than just dirt under our feet: it is a complex and dynamic ecosystem, home to thousands of different organisms and the basis of our food. Julian and Josephine invite you to explore a variety of soil samples with the microscope.

Many thanks also to Markéta Dolejšová, Denisa Kera, Zohar Messeca-Fara und Yair Reshef vom Extreme Biopolitical Bistro.

Links:
Biotopia Eat Festival Website
Extreme Biopolitical Bistro
idiot.io

3 Day Workshop "SCOBI, Shit and Humus" @Mo Museum in Vilnius

Mindaugas Gapsevicius, Juan Pablo Diaz and Julian Chollet gave a 3 day Workshop with the Titel "SCOBI, Shit and Humus" as part of the exhibition Shared Habitats (Bauhaus-Universität Weimar). The main themes were Symbiosis, Permaculture und Soil life.

Documentation by Mindaugas Gapsevicius
Soil analysis summary by Julian Chollet

Pictures by Rytis Seskaitis

Excursion to Reformatu Square (Pictures: Julian Chollet)

March 2019

HUMUS sapiens at the SEEDS & SOIL conference in Paris

At the SEEDS & SOIL conference we explored the invisible biodiversity of the Parisian soil.
Afterwards, there was a round table with Ariane Leblanc, Pedro Wirz and Julian Chollet at the Center culturel suisse - moderated by Antonia von Schöning. The conference continued on Saturday (08.03.) And also included film screenings, lectures, performances and installations.

ARTICLE from Makery

February 2019

mikroBIOMIK at the Marie-Curie-Alumni-Conference in Vienna

Josephine represented mikroBIOMIK and the HUMUS sapiens network on the MCAA (Marie Curie Alumni Association) general assembly and annual conference in Vienna (25-26th Feb 2019).

The MCAA meeting this year focused on 'disseminating research results from European research projects through public relations', open science and on how better working conditions can be created for scientists. Presenting the work of the Society for mikroBIOMIK in Vienna, we were able to bring our approach to open, collaborative and practical science communication into the discussion. For our multimedia presentation, with which we participated in the poster session, we received consistently positive feedback. Our presence at the MCAA meeting gave us the opportunity to discuss topics that are important to us with experts from many exciting disciplines. We presented the HUMUS sapiens soil microscopy workshops as an opportunity to engage interested people in research regardless of their educational background and agreed that hands-on activities are important in providing physical memory for hard facts.

Talk and discussion about HUMUS sapiens in Tel Aviv (TAMI)

"@ Tel Aviv Makers I... hackerspace!"

January 2019

Interactive exhibition "SCOBI, Shit and Humus" @ACUD Berlin

As part of the Transmedial "Vorspiel" (Prelude) at ACUD Berlin we had an interactive exhibition on the theme "SCOBI, Shit and Humus" - in cooperation with Mindaugas Gapsevicius and Juan Pablo Diaz. Among other things, the participants had the opportunity to analyze their own soil or compost samples under a microscope. With more than 500 visitors and very positive feedback, we consider the event a great success.

November 2018

Lecture on collaboration between art, science and technology (Kunsthaus Raab)

The Munich Embassy of the Self-proclaimed "Republic of Užupis" invited us to reflect on what happens when artists, scientists and engineers work together. The artist colony Užupis was founded in Lithuanias capital Vilnius in 1997 and now houses about 7000 people.

October 2018

Workshop: Invisible life in compost and soil

As part of the symposium "„Weil alles irgendwie zammgehört“" by the Center for Environment and Culture Benediktbeuern, Julian was invited to give a workshop on microbial soil life.
The meeting brought together very interesting people and initiatives: e.g. Daniel Diehl from Slow Food Germany with his project „Boden begreifen“ and Susanne Stoiber from the IG Gesunder Boden.

September 2018 – HUMUS sapiens on tour

«Humus sapiens on tour»
Lucerne, 22.-25. September 2018
Stuttgart, 26.-29. September 2018
Zurich, 03. October 2018
Berlin, 01.-07. October 2018

Here is an overview

LUCERNE

The first stop of our tour was Lucerne: we met @FabLab to discuss about microplastics, analyze soil samples and build centrifuges. Of course including an excursion. More Information

STUTTGART

Retreat in the Container City (Kunstverein Wagenhalle)

For 5 days a large part of the HUMUS sapiens network gathered in the center of Stuttgart.
What happened there, we cannot summarize in a few sentences - please be patient until we have set up a decent wiki. In the rooms of the Kunstverein Wagenhalle some results of this productive time were open to visit in an exposition until 14. October.

July 2018

mikroBIOMIK soil retreat

From the 20th to the 22nd of July the woods surrounding Projekt Draussen as well as the house itself became the setting for the «mikroBIOMIK soil retreat». We gathered a colorful mix of experts from different disciplines, curious gardeners, skilled hobby microscopists and passionate artists. The event was flexibly structured (as a barcamp/unconference) to address as many questions and approaches as possible and to develop the program together with the participants. There were many discussions and networking sessions, but also a lot has happened in practice: excursions, microscopy, composting, electronic crafts, comic drawing, yoga, a jazz concert,...

More Information:

Workshop: Workshop: Invisible life in compost and soil

As part of the Children Climate Camp 2018, we were invited to do a workshop series on soil microbes at the BUND Naturschutz- und Jugendzentrum Wartaweil. Several groups of children between the ages of 8 and 12 collected samples, rummaged through compost, and observed the wild mini-creatures at work. A day full of muddy hands, astonished faces and fascinating insights into the world of invisible life.

May 2018

The HUMUS sapiens RandeLab retreat 4.-6. May

The Global Hackteria Network, Gasthaus: Fermentation and Bacteria and mikroBIOMIK invite scientists, biohackers, artists, makers, teachers, ecologists and farmers to meet in a forest hut to develop new DIY concepts and workshops on soil ecology. We are all very excited !! :)

More Information:

April 2018

Spring awakening in plants and microbes

What is going on below the ground? Especially in spring, plants excrete a variety of substances from their roots to the ground. In young plants, these so-called "exudates" can account for up to 40% of the carbon compounds they produce from air and sunlight. With the help of these excretions, microbes with whom the plant would like to cooperate are attracted and supported; harmful ones are deterred. The fact that the energy of the first spring sun-rays flows into the ground to such an extent, shows us how important the interaction between the young plants and microbes is for further growth.

If you would like to know more and/or read scientific literature on this topic, just write a short e-mail to humussapiens@mikrobiomik.org

PS: Many thanks to all supporters of the Humus sapiens crowdfunding campaign!!!

March 2018

Humus Sapiens crowdfunding campaign launched

In cooperation with the Global Hackteria Network and Gasthaus: Fermentation and Bacteria, we are launching our first, larger project with the title "Humus Sapiens: open soil research" dedicated to the complex topic of soil ecology.

To begin, we focus on the organization of two events near Munich and Schaffhausen (CH) in the spring and summer of 2018, as well as the establishment of a global network of amateurs and experts who are developing new approaches to soil analysis.

The financing of Humus Sapiens runs until 08.04.2018 on the Swiss crowdfunding platform wemakeit.com.

More information
To the campaign

February 2018

mikroBIOMIK Society founded

Finally, we are a legal entity and the association should very soon also receive the status of a non-profit organization - this is currently being examined by the tax authorities. We are committed to the promotion of research and science, as well as the promotion of education and vocational training.

If you would like to be a patron or member, please write to verein@mikrobiomik.org

December 2017

Workshop: antibiotic properties of garlic

The participants made their own agar-plates and cultivated different species of bacteria and microbial fungi. Garlic was placed in the middle of the plate to see how the microbes react to its antibiotic properties.

Results: some microbes hate garlic (bacteria?!) and some don’t mind (fungi?!).

November 2017

Workshop: DNA amplification at the Bauhaus-University, Weimar

A laboratory course for art students to communicate basic knowledge about molecular biology. We performed real DNA-amplification and then reenacted the ‘invisible’ procedure with the help of paper-DNA and creativity.

Workshop: kombucha fermentation and biomaterial

Some friends were interested in the cultivation of kombucha for drinking and tinkering. We tested a few different recipes for fermentation and drying of the microbial cellulose. We also had some fun forming letters from mushroom material.

September 2017

Kick-off meeting of the ‘Nordic Biohack Network’ in Vilnius, Lithuania

“The international meeting with a coded name "siNbiozė" is an attempt to realize the possibility of symbiosis of scientific and artistic practices, aimed at development and presentation of ideas, [...]“ Nordic Biohack Network

There was some lichen-biohacking, a ‘reversed science cafe’ and a lot of time for networking!

Fermentation & Microscopy at the Klöntal Biohack Retreat

During the last warm days in september, an international crowd of biohackers gathered in the beautiful swiss mountains to share knowledge, inspiration, techniques, good food and of course also microbes. Julian brought his aunts old ZEISS microscope so we could analyze all the fermented food, soil extracts, water samples and other funny stuff. We even tried to do some digital 3D reconstruction.

Klöntal is also the birthplace of the “wormlab project”

Here is a video from the event:

June 2017

Phage Hunting in Georgia

The Georgian Eliava Institute is worldwide the most experienced research institution in all aspects of phage research, production and therapy. Julian and Rüdiger attended the “centennial celebration of bacteriophage research” and also took part in a summer school concerning the isolation of phages from the environment. This was also a good chance to present the idea for an interactive learning platform on microbial communities. The poster definitely got a lot of attention - also from the cleaning lady (see picture below).

This was also the beginning of the „ Phage Academy “ project

May 2017

Hackteria and mikroBIOMIK at the MakeMunich Makerfare

In the middle of 3D-printers, robots and other fancy electronics, we had a nice little booth about biology. Special guests were Marc and Urs from Switzerland, Timbil and Geger from Indonesia, a huge batch kombucha and some mushrooms.

We performed several workshops concerning fermentation and biomaterials as well as a discussion-round on biohacking.

Biofabbing convergence at CERN, Geneva

The famous research institute for particle physics hosted a very international and interdisciplinary crowd of “enthusiasts, practitioners, and researchers on Biohacking and Do-it-Yourself Biology in an effort to foster transformative discussions and learning experiences.” Biofabbing convergence website

We discussed some important developments in the community, cooked and fermented good food as well as ideas and got to know each other a lot better. During a visit to Lausanne\'s Biohackerspace Hackuarium there was also enough time to built some webcam microscopes and test the ‘foldoscope’.

April 2017

DIY macro/microscopy in the Spanish mountains

While hiking through northern Portugal and Spain, Julian got a little bored and built a very simple microscope from a 2€ laser pointer (only the lens) and a piece of cork. It works by placing it very near to your eye – like the 17th century Van-Leeuwenhoek microscopes or (more convenient) by using it together with a smartphone.

It works great for little insects and we spontaneously organized a workshops with kids from the village.