Mendel’s Legacy: Exploring Bacterial Genomics through Art

Mendel's Legacy: Exploring Bacterial Genomics through Art

Lecture by Anna Dumitriu and Alex May at the Mendel Museum, Brno

Saturday, 28th November 2015, 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM

Anna Dumitriu in her current project “Sequence” uses the latest research in whole genome sequencing and the 2.8 million base pairs of DNA from the Staphylococcus aureus bacteria (the non-antibiotic resistant form of the MRSA ‘superbug’) cultured from Dumitriu’s own body and sequenced by the artist herself as a starting point to investigate how this new technology operates in both a practical and cultural context, set against a backdrop of public concerns around privacy, the commercialisation of data, the threat of new pandemics and the lack of new antibiotic treatments. This new advance in diagnosis and tracking of infectious diseases is currently revolutionising the sciences of microbiology and epidemiology, and stems directly from Mendel’s legacy.


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