WhiteFeather was part of BricoBio’s biohacker team for the Biohackathon presented at HackerFest, held in Montreal July 16 & 17, 2016. The inaugural Hackerfest was a 24-hour, outdoor, multi-topic, innovation marathon for developers, designers, inventors and all-around creators. HackerFest is organized by Startupfest, the largest Startup event in Canada. Based in Montreal, with events held around the world.

More info on the HackerFest here.

WhiteFeather’s hackathon projects, above: n=1 (left), silver conductive thread on 3D printed loom in phosphate buffer solution (PBS), 2 x 3V batteries, pink LED; n=2 (far right), silver conductive thread on 3D printed loom in Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle Medium (DMEM) culture medium, 2 x 3V batteries, pink LED; n=3 (mid-right), silver conductive thread on 3D printed loom in agar, swabbed with iPhone.

Results:

n=1, n=2 – consistent electric current moving through the conductive thread even when submerged in the two different fluids (one sodium based, one glucose based). Proving possibly safe/useful for mammalian cell culture for future experiments with charging cells.

n=3 – no bacterial or fungal growth over a 24-hour period, possibly meaning that the silver conductive thread functions as an antimicrobial agent (typically known to do in other applications). Proven potentially useful for mammalian cell culture, reducing the need for antibiotics in the culture media.

More info and photos of the Biohackathon on BricoBio’s Facebook page here.