This tiny lab is on the fourth floor of the Media Lab building and serves as the main biological and material lab for The Mediated Matter Group. It was designed to foster experimentation and exchange between the diverse members of the group - biologists, designers, engineers, architects, and computer scientists.
Image Credit: Andy Ryan
Courtesy of The Mediated Matter Group
I co-led the design of this BSL2 space, along with Chikara Inamura and Neri Oxman. It opened in 2015, and since then has acquired a variety of equipment and organisms.
Image Credit: Andy Ryan
Courtesy of The Mediated Matter Group
As a fully functional biosafety level 2 lab, it includes standard equipment - such as a thermal cycler, incubator, and biosafety cabinet - as well as a macro and micro photography studios and at times, robotic arms.
Many of the design choices are not standard to ‘wet lab’ spaces - for instance, clear glass walls and Avonite countertops were chosen instead of opaque walls and epoxy resin - giving this space a unique feel reflective of the mission of the Media Lab.
Image Credit: Andy Ryan
Courtesy of The Mediated Matter Group
A small sampling of organisms that reside in this lab. In contrast to many other biological labs, we do not focus on a single model organism, but rather work with organisms from all domains of life.
Image Credit: Sunanda Sharma
Illustrations of various organisms in the lab.
Image Credit: Sunanda Sharma
Every good lab has some contamination.
Image Credit: Sunanda Sharma
Image Credit: Sunanda Sharma