BioLab is a design space for vibrant futures. We question the status quo of biotechnological situations of tension and provide new stimuli from the perspectives of design and art. Using design approaches, we research hidden life. We view living manufacturing methods, renewable materials, adaptive and resilient products and systems as future-orientated fields that must be examined and explored.

Through professional instruction, in BioLab students gain access to biotechnological methods and learn to design diverse futures with living (micro)organisms and their products. A culture of openness and transparency makes it possible to objectively discuss and explore the borders between nature, culture, and technology. Ethical questions on the biotechnological future are one focal area of discourse and public dialogue.

Studierende können mit Mikroorganismen wie Pilzen, Bakterien und Algen, mit deren Produkten wie Fasern, Bioplastik, Cellulose und Farbstoffen sowie deren Eigenschaften und Fähigkeiten wie Biolumineszenz oder Motilität experimentieren. Wir haben außerdem die Möglichkeit, eine Vielzahl von Verfahren einzusetzen, um biologische Materialien aufzubrechen und Substanzen zu extrahieren.

Das BioLab und sein*e Mitarbeiter*innen vor Ort stehen Studierenden zu den Öffnungszeiten zur Verfügung. Um im BioLab arbeiten zu können, müssen Studierende zunächst eine Belehrung absolvieren. Sie erfolgt zu Beginn des ersten Semesters und wird jährlich aufgefrischt.

Folgt dem Link für mehr Informationen zur Ausstattung, zu Zugangsvorraussetzungen, und zu Einführungsworkshops und weiteren Veranstaltungen im BioLab.

• Getting In-Touch (Sprechstunde)
• Getting Insight (Belehrung: verpflichtend für das Arbeiten im BioLab)
• Getting Started (Einführungsworkshops in verschiedene BioLab Tätigkeiten - Anmeldung)
• Getting Intense (Session)
• Getting Focused (Residency)

FAQ für Studierende

BioLab offers all the conditions that ensure low-threshold access to bioscience work methods at BURG. They include appropriate equipment and professional instruction. On the one hand, the lab possesses state-of-the-art bioscience devices. On the other hand, it provides all the necessary organisms and chemical substances required for use in the common bioscience methods.

Students can experiment with microorganisms such as fungi, bacteria, algae and their products, which include fibres, bioplastic, cellulose, colourants, and more. They can also explore properties such as bioluminescence. We have the opportunity to use a range of chemicals to split biological materials open and extract substances. In future, we will also make equipment available for isolating DNA and the associated proteins.

Devices & consumables

• Stereo microscope
• Universal centrifuge
• Incubation shaker
• Sterile workbench
• Laboratory fume hood
• Autoclave
• Pressure cooker
• Upright incubator
• 3D Printer
• Electrospinning
• Precision scales
• Stirrer
• Pipettes
• Laboratory refrigerator/freezer to -20 °C
• Hazardous substances cabinet for acids, alkaline solutions, and organic solvents
• Laboratory glassware (flasks, test tubes, beakers, Schott bottles, graduated cylinders, etc.)
• Sterile disposable items (syringes, sterile filters, pipette tips, scalpels, centrifuge tubes, etc.)

Organisms (TBC)

• Aliivibrio fischeri (bacterium) – Bioluminescent bacterium
• Chlorella vulgaris (green alga) – Easily cultivated microalgae, scientific model organism, practices photosynthesis, high protein content
• Cupriavidus necator (bacterium) – Synthesises PHB – polyhydroxybutyrate (a polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA))
• Gluconacetobacter xylinus (bacterium) – Produces cellulose and secretes it into culture medium
• Laetiporus sulphureus DH158 (bracket fungus) – Sulphur yellow to orange-coloured pigments, rots its host tree, "chicken of the woods"
• Laetiporus cincinnatus DH165 (bracket fungus) – Like Laetiporus sulphureus, prefers oak trees
• Lyngbya sp. (filamentous cyanobacterium) – “Blue-green alga”, bacterium that practices photosynthesis, key component of marine food chain, synthesizes scytonemin (UV-absorbing pigment)
• Nostoc commune (cyanobacterium) – Another “blue-green alga”, practices photosynthesis and can bind nitrogen, drought-resistant
• Nostoc sp. PCC 7120 (filamentous cyanobacterium ) – Like Nostoc commune
• Pseudoalteromonas luteoviolacea (bacterium) – Violet pigment (violacein)
• Pseudoalteromonas rubra (bacterium) – Red pigment (prodigiosin)

Media

• Culture media for bacteria, fungi, algae (potato-dextrose-agar (PDA), lysogeny broth (LB), malt extract-agar, etc.)
• Selected buffers and typical reagents for cultivation
• The available chemicals are recorded in the BioLab database and are constantly expanded