Sofia Klimkowski Arango, Fiber, 2025
Utilizing the bio printer to create e coli drawings of shadows of gates.
Project Overview
Murmurations of Gates pt.1
Crispr edited H101-PBRKan bio-printed on Agar in a Petri dish
3″ x 3″ x .5″ inches
2024
Murmurations of Gates pt.2
PBRKan+Spect printed on Agar on a glass plate, yellow construction paper
4” x 6” x .5” inches
2024
This project was a focus on bio-printing with white E.coli (HB101 + pBRKan + pDGSpt – LacZ) on Agar and Charcoal infused Agar. I used Rhino and Grasshopper create a design for bio-printing. Allowing the computer generated algorithm to abstract the design as well as let the E.coli grow in sections, I let nature and technology run its course to dictate the outcome of this project.
Process
I was interested in both laser cut kevlar stencils and bio-printer drawing. I made agar plates by creating a liquid agar that I autoclaved, then added the needed antibiotics for the strains of e coli, and then pouring them into a Petri dishes that I laid out and sterilized in the UV cabinet. I let these plates set for at least 30 minutes, then closed them, sealed with para film, wrapped in tin foil (due to their light sensitivity), and placed in the refrigerator (not the freezer!).
For the kevlar stencils, I created both a positive and negative of the light/shadows in an image of my mother and I at the BMA by using the grasshopper file prep provided by Ryan to then laser cut out the half tone points of my image. I used the stencil with the shadow portion cut out with regular agar and the blue e coli. I used the stencil with the light values of the image cut out with the white e coli on the charcoal agar. While I liked how these prints ended up turning out as images, I felt that the strain of the e coli that I had used was incredibly faint. This was due to me forgetting to make a fresher/new liquid culture and using one that was over a week old. On the black agar plate, the condensation or the moisture from my sterilized kevlar stencil pressed into the agar and created these odd inverted bumps. Due to all of these factors and an overall disinterest in how involved I was with this image, I moved onto the bio-printing.
I first tested my print in a Petri dish with charcoal agar and white e coli. Due to either the plate not being poured level or the uv sterilization cabinet not being level itself when I poured my plates, I had to manually lift the 3D printer plate as it was printing periodically to insure that the toothpick needle made contact with the agar. I was satisfied with how my print came out on the Petri dish but felt very uninterested in the immediate recognition of the Petri dish shape in the piece. I then found a 6″ x 4″ glass plate and made tape tabs underneath the plate. I autoclaved the glass inside a pyrex container, then poured agar directly onto glass inside the container. I let the agar set and then used a scalpel to cut out the exterior of the glass in the agar. I pulled out the plate and put it onto the sterilized 3d printer plate. I calibrated the printer to the new size of the plate and then ran the print. I still had to press underneath the plate to get full contact in some areas, though I missed some points due to the speed of the printer.
I was really happy with how this glass plate turned out due to future ideas of altering the glass before bio-printing to create multidimensional imagery. Either using the laser to etch in a design, hand scribing in an image, or making an ambrotype were my ideas for a future project from this one.
Some things I will work on for the future is figuring out how to better cut out the agar itself- I was left with really jagged edges that were unflattering to the piece. Potentially I will make walls from an autoclave-able material that is the exact shape of the plate but also can easily be peeled away. Having no walls to my plate allowed for me to print full bleed rather than have a specified gutter/border buffer.
Another issue I had with this project was that when I was going to document my glass plate, I accidentally dropped the pyrex lid onto the project and caused approximately 1/6th of the design to be scraped off and for the agar to be punctured. In the future, I will either choose an easier to handle container or leave the print on the lid of the container and open it backwards.
Finally, I had a lot of issues towards the end for observing the work on the glass plate and maintaining sterility. To be able to look at the plate, I often had to take it out of its container and even place onto different surfaces (like the lab counters). Because of this I was handling the piece more that I truly desired and will plan next time to have a way to not need to handle it as much or pour it into a container that it will be capable of staying inside.
Learn More
Please feel free to reach out to me at sofia.klimkowski.arango@gmail.com for any further inquiries or questions!