The Cambridge University iGEM Team 2009 consists of seven undergraduates from every corner of Biology, Physics and Engineering: resident Wiki genius, 1^st year Engineer Mike Davies; 3^rd year Biochemist and self-styled ‘lab rat’ Shuna Gould; 2^nd year Biochemist Siming Ma, who is usually found reading a scientific paper; 2^nd year Physicist and fan of decision-making Megan Stanley; 2^nd year Biochemist Vivian Mullin, who does stupid dances when bacteria change colour; 2^nd year champion of wacky ideas, Engineer Alan Walbridge; and 2^nd year Geneticist Crispian Wilson who is most likely to ask a question nobody can answer.

W: 2009.igem.org/Team:Cambridge/Team

Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg

Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg is an artist, designer and writer, using design to examine the social, ethical and cultural implications of emerging technologies, and the role of design in a Biotech Revolution. As Design Fellow on Synthetic Aesthetics (Stanford/Edinburgh Universities), Daisy is curating an international program researching the shared territory between synthetic biology, art and design.

W: daisyginsberg.com

James King

James King is a speculative designer working in the field of biological science. James collaborates with scientists and works between the lab and studio to design potential applications for their research. Together they imagine what might be possible if technologies developed in the lab become adopted by people in their everyday lives. This results in objects, films and images that are exhibited in order to elicit debate on the desirable and undesirable qualities of future biotechnologies.

W: james-king.net

E.chromi is a collaboration between designers and scientists in the new field of synthetic biology. In 2009, seven Cambridge University undergraduates spent the summer genetically engineering bacteria to secrete a variety of coloured pigments, visible to the naked eye. They designed standardised sequences of DNA, known as BioBricks, and inserted them into E. coli bacteria. Each BioBrick part, contains genes selected from existing organisms spanning the living kingdoms, enabling the bacteria to produce a colour: red, yellow, green, blue, brown or violet. By combining these with other BioBricks, bacteria could be programmed to do useful things, such as indicate whether drinking water is safe. E. chromi won the Grand Prize at the 2009 International Genetically Engineered Machine Competition (iGEM).

Designers Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg and James King worked with the team to explore the potential of this new technology, while it was being developed in the lab. They designed a timeline of proposals for ways that a foundational technology such as E. chromi could develop over the next century, such as The Scatalog. By 2039, cheap, personalised disease-monitoring, works from the inside out. Ingested as yoghurt, E. chromi colonises the gut. The bacteria keeps watch for chemical markers of diseases and can produce easy-to-read warning signals.

Not necessarily desirable, the scenarios explore the different agendas that could shape the use of E. chromi and our everyday lives. This collaboration meant that E. chromi is a technology designed at both the genetic and the human scale, setting a precedent for future collaborations between designers and scientists.

W: echromi.com