The BioHack Academy is an international programme organised by Waag in Amsterdam, in collaboration with partner labs worldwide. Participants build their own laboratory devices, develop laboratory skills, work with living materials, are introduced into genetics and follow their own curiosity to develop a personal project.
The projects developed by participants of the BioHack Academy vary wildly depending on personal interest, from playful explorations to practical applications. Here are a few videos showing some of last year’s projects and their makers sharing their fascination and the challenges they took on during the Academy.
3D bioprinters for slime mold games
Bart Peeters was wondering what it would be like if we could communicate with micro-organisms, specifically slime mold. He built a pipetting robot to interact with slime mold in game of Pacman. Bart: "For me, the biggest challenge was to build my own hardware with commonly available equipment: I used DVD drives to make a 3D printer."
Distilling scents from nature
Anna Pelgrim investigated whether natural scents reduce stress. Anna: "I joined the BioHack Academy to get a deeper understanding of biology and technology, and how they work together within design."
Soft robotics
Matthijs de Block wanted to create a self-portrait in the form of a breathing object mirroring his biometric data. He worked with electronics and molded silicon. Matthijs: "What I liked about the BioHack Academy is that you can bring different people together from different areas of expertise, and that you can make, build, think about the problems and ideas of the future in a really biological way. The BioHack Academy is all about sharing knowledge, making things yourself, and cross-overs between different disciplines."
What projects would you take on when joining the BioHack Academy?
