On Tuesday 5th July Rachel Sammons and Melissa Grant headed down to London for the ‘Into the Orifice’ launch event for the Science Gallery London’s Mouthy season. Working with artist Anna Dumitriu, the team are developing an artwork, Microbe Mouth, made using the bacteria Serratia sp NCIMB40259, which can create structures of hydroxyapatite, which makes up our bones and teeth. The final piece will be a bacterial grown hydroxyapatite tooth coated in ceramic glazes containing bacteria that associated with caries and periodontal disease (eg Streptococcal species and Porphyromonas gingivalis). The tooth will be ready to view in November when the team will run a work shop in London, followed by an exhibition. At the launch the prototype tooth was shown for the first time and visitors were asked to contribute to the forth coming installation by glazing porcelain teeth with the ceramic glazes containing bacteria. The ideas incorporate research and practise of all the members of the Microbe Mouth team.
More can be found about Serratia sp NCIMB40259 at the following links
- http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-6596/398/1/012005/pdf
- The Microbe Mouth project http://annadumitriu.tumblr.com/MicrobeMouth
BrumDentists 