WORKSHOP ON THE ANTIBIOTICS CRISIS WITH RÜDIGER TROJOK

Through animal and plant breeding, our environment is increasingly contaminated with antibiotics. Bacteria become resistant to them and even pass on their resistance to other bacteria. New antibiotics must therefore be constantly developed. However, there is a lack of supplies, not least because of a lack of lucrativeness. A more conscious handling and completely new solutions are necessary. The aim of the workshop was to detect antibiotic-resistant bacteria in soil samples from the environment and thus to illustrate the problem. We diluted the soil samples and placed them on a culture medium mixed with the antibiotic ampicillin. Only the resistant bacteria grew overnight in a heating cabinet, the others were killed by the ampicillin. It surprised us not only that several samples contained resistant bacteria, but also with what simple household remedies biological experiments can be achieved.

Rüdiger Trojok studied synthetic biology at the University of Potsdam, the University of Freiburg and at the Denmark Technical University. He is currently establishing the citizen science biolab in Berlin. He is strongly committed to open source biotechnology in the public, politics and the arts.

Update: He has recently opened the Bio.Kitchen at UnternehmerTUM in Munich.