Amsterdam Biolabs

20/02/2019

Will the Art of the Future be made of DNA? Find out the answer tonight in A Lab! Also come see the exhibition with Genetic Creations by Vera van de Seyp, Vera Williams, Günter Seyfried, Federico Muffatto & Roland van Dierendonck.
https://buff.ly/2Gy5hfT

20/02/2019

Vera van de Seyp and Vera Williams of Media Technology (Leiden University) are showing their installation Genetic Encryption today in A Lab, come check it out in the Playground ! A big thanks to Leiden University and Edwin van der Heide for facilitating the transport.

"DNA harbours all of life’s data as we know it. It’s a dynamic system: perpetually exposed to change, yet resilient to its adverse effects. However resilient, the DNA system is open to change as long as there is enough pressure to steer it into a specific direction. This is how life evolves.

With our current digital society, data protection is becoming a rapidly more pressing necessity. There are many ways to encrypt your website, computer or phone, yet many passwords that are used are so simple even a human could hack them. Even random password generators are based on pseudo-random algorithms that are easy to crack by web crawlers and hackers.

Can we steer the effectiveness of data encryption through the process of DNA mutation? We want to use the unpredictability of mutation as a tool for a password generator, in which visitors can each generate a unique and uncrackable password designed by nature."

19/02/2019

Günter Seyfried is an Austrian artist based in Vienna. Starting in 2004 he created a series of works within the Polycinease Network, saving images in DNA and editing or mutating them in the laboratory using various techniques. Return to Dilmun, the latest installment of the series, was developed at the Open Wetlab of Waag in Amsterdam, together with Roland van Dierendonck and Federico Muffatto, using the DNA-editing technique CRISPR-Cas9.

Photo Credit: Enzo Addi

Meet Günter tomorrow A Lab Amsterdam: https://www.facebook.com/events/1984031524999280/

29/11/2018

The Future is coming fast. And Humanity's Genetic Future is at stake.

What a couple decades ago populated our imagination and our movies is coming to the real world to haunt us. An ethical and moral conversation that has been delayed for too long and limited to the ivory tower elite has now exploded.

Designer babies are here. Last minute stuntman are taking advantage of regulatory holes. But most importantly: are we going to allow such new traits/mutations to Humanity's gene pool?

At Amsterdam Biolab we feel strongly about advocating for genetic literacy but this is beyond. This is Humanity's Genetic Future.

So we will organize an event. If you feel like us and you want to be part of the discussion and take action in organizing the event let us know.

Here's a good article to shed some on what the Pandora's box (or Dr. He's box) contained.

https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2018/11/28/after-such-knowledge

And remember, sharing is caring.

So now we know more about the CRISPR human baby story. And it's even worse than it looked. Let me recommend this report from Sharon Begley at Stat, from the International Human Genome Summit in Hong Kong, but it's not going to make you happy to read it. It turns out that He Jiankui devoted quite

25/11/2018

Let's Talk about for your Biotech Idea! This Wednesday at Steven O Connell of RebelBio SOSV - The Accelerator VC will join us in a conversation about Starting . A Lab Amsterdam
https://www.facebook.com/events/1431404640323159/

16/09/2018

Is biohacking the future of genetic research? Get the latest in DIY kit to modify the genome of your pets. https://futurism.com/mutant-frogs-genetic-engineering/

You won't even need to leave your house.

01/08/2018

The evening investigated what happens if computer science and biology mix in Biotic Games. Roland van Dierendonck gave an overview of hybrid video games that integrate real, living, biological components and processes with computers, and discussed his own contributions to the field. Via live stream from London, Raphael Kim talked about their collaborative project Mould Rush: a bio-digital, multiplayer strategy game that is played on a slow but constantly-evolving landscape, shaped by real, living micro-organisms such as bacteria, yeast, and fungi. There was a live demonstration including a discussion microscope, Euglena, a Foldscope and a projection of the Mould Rush live stream. Federico Muffatto concluded the night by leading a tour through Amsterdam Biolabs. Photos by Anneke ter Schure.

23/07/2018

Norwegian scientists created Protozoa Pacman: ciliates, euglenas & rotifers in a 1 mm maze (English subs). Tomorrow Roland will give an overview of Biotic Games during our event! https://www.facebook.com/events/430226414121734/

Encellede flimmerdyr fungerer som «Pacmen» mens flercellede hjuldyr er «Ghosts» i et mikroskopisk eksperiment som lener seg på kultdataspillet fra 1980. Dett...

20/07/2018

Last month we hosted a wonderful event about the plastic world we live in where Science and Art luckily bumped into each other.

Now this: an enhanced ENZYME that degrades PET

Since it was discovered, the enzyme known as PETase has drawn a great deal of scientific interest for its capacity of digesting PET (polyethylene terephthalate).