School Project at the Neanderlab

The Neanderlab is a laboratory in Hilden, where classes from schools in the region can do a range of experiments and workshops from soldering to PCR. As a part of our initiative to spark interest for (synthetic) biology and DIY hardware in the young generation, we cooperated with the Gymnasium am Neandertal to bring a 12th year biology class into the lab.

The students carried out multiple experiments:

• measurement of an E.coli growth curve using our DIY photometer
• plating of Pseudomonas fluorescens on agar plates
• chemiluminescence of luminol, catalyzed by a copper wire (an experiment from the Neanderlabs routine)

In parallel to the experiments, we briefly introduced them to our iGEM project and answered their questions on synthetic biology and the Biology/Biotechnology study programs.