Ian Ong, Sculpture Major
Class of 2025
Project Overview
I was interested in exploring with printing bacteria using antibiotic stencils and seeing if I could flip the process that previous projects have been using. I wanted to try letting the bacteria grow everywhere on the plate except for areas marked with antibiotics.
Process
I first made a serial dilution of Kanamycin, beginning with 10ul Kanamycin : 90ul distilled water, and diluting it by 10% three times. After, I covered the plate with the bacteria using a glass rod and brush, and then with glass beads. (I did it rather poorly, if anyone tries to replicate this in future I recommend spray/misting instead)
The stencils were laser cut Kapton, with the finer line gaps of the stencil at .02″ thickness.
The process of application onto the plates was fairly straightforward:
1. Sterilize all equipment and kapton stencils
2. Lay stencil on clean agar plate
3. Mist diluted antibiotic (1% concentration) onto plate
4. Carefully remove stencils
5. Mist bacteria onto plate
6. Let it grow!
For future attempts I would recommend a heavy saturation of bacteria on plate. My attempts were not saturated enough and the growth appeared spotty, though the fluorescence can be seen faintly spread out over the entire plate.
A less permeable/more dense form of agar may be needed as well, as it seems even with the thinness of the stencil gaps that the antibiotic bleeds anyway.
