Our latest preprint is out now! I’ve done a full thread breaking it down over at my new home- .

RT @CamBiochem: A paper published in @CurrentBiology by Alberto Scarampi and colleagues in @CJHoweLab adds significantly to our understandi….

For more papers of this ilk, check out the special issue on 'algae at the interface', which this publication is part of. 12/12.

A big thank you to Juliet Brodie, as well as the rest of the Applied Phycology editorial team and our peer reviewers for helping us with this (rather unorthodox) paper. 11/12.

We look forward to showing more of this work as it progresses. It's all been made possible through the collaboration of a highly interdisciplinary team of scientists, artists and designers: @scaralbi, @emmaalbertini, @BombelliPaolo, @CJHoweLab, Lucia Giron and Lena Kuzmich. 10/12.

We are now collaborating with artist Lena Kuzmich, who is building our first proper algal musical instrument. A prototype of this device has already been used as a part of a musical ensemble in 'Choir of Kin'- an art installation shown at Brut Vienna last march. 9/12.

We also discuss the different musical applications for this technology, with a particular focus on music which reflects the environment, or 'space' it is generated in. 8/12

In this perspective we outline the essential design considerations when building these algal musical instruemnts. This includes a detailed description of the different ways bioelectrical signals can be converted into musical ones. 7/12

From this we surmised that algal bioelectricity could be used to make truly environmental biomusic, which not only reflected but was generated from the environment it was composed or recorded in. 6/12.

By comparison, the electrical signals generated from algae are directly related to the photosynthetic and metabolic activity of the cells. When environmental conditions cause alterations of this activity, this is reflected in the electricity production. 5/12.

Biomusic is music created with no, or minimal, human-input. Previously, researchers have made biomusic using signals recorded from living non-human organisms, including plants and slime molds. However, the signals used to make this music are often not biological in nature. 4/12.

We found this system was a brilliant tool for outreach, enabling us to explain complex scientific topics such as photosynthesis and bacterial metabolism through music. This led us to wonder how else we could use this musical technology. 3/12.

We first began this work back in 2022 for the @CambSciFest. We built a circuit which converted the voltages from a cyanobacterial biofilm into MIDI signals, which we played on electric synthesisers. 2/12

Here's something a little different to our usual research. In our new perspective out now in Applied Phycology (@bps_algae), we describe how you can use the electrical signals of algae to generate music 🦠⚡️🎵. 🧵1/12.

Thanks so much to the @ColloidsGroup for selecting me for this award!.

RT @MarcosPitaPhD: Rachel Egan shows us how to electrify cianobacteria in polymer matrix #BES2024 @BES2024S @ReisnerLab @JZhangLab https://….

RT @lauratwey: Here is a preprint of a cyanobacteria and light-activated extracellular electron transfer (exoelectrogenesis) story from my….

I'll be speaking at this event on how you can use electricity to control gene expression in different species of bacteria ⚡️🦠.

RT @natrevbioeng: Check out our beautiful December cover🌷☀️ 😍 highlighting the Review by @JZhangLab discussing how electrons from photosynt….

RT @CamBiochem: We are very pleased to invite applications for an exciting new position of Professor of Synthetic Biology or Engineering Bi….