Channeling artist Vincent Van Gogh, Lauren LeLockwood (a SPC biology student) tries to recreate artwork using pigment bacteria.  The bacteria comes from a collection of pigmented microbes.  This collection was established by Dr. Shannon Ulrich’s research students.  Students collected various environmental samples including water and soil samples.  The samples were plated on a variety of microbiological media and any microbes exhibiting pigmentation were isolated.  The students also extracted DNA from the microbes, amplified the 16S rRNA gene of the bacteria and sequenced it.  Students are able to compare the sequence of the 16S rRNA gene to a database to determine the identity of the bacteria.  The bacteria in the above petri dish has been identified as Micrococcus luteus (yellow), Erwinia spp. (orange), Chromobacterium violaceum (purple), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (greenish), and Serratia marcescens (red).  This work was funded by a SPC Foundation Innovation Grant.

This project gives students an opportunity to explore advanced microbiological techniques as well as create works of art to proudly display.  This is a great way to show students that science doesn’t have to be ‘stiff and boring’; scientists can be creative and artistic too!

Lauren plans to submit her artwork to the American Society for Microbiology “Art Agar” competition for possible publication.

Here’s another ‘piece’ of her artwork also created using bacteria: