My bio engineering application would engineer both inside and outside the cell, making changes to create complex morphologies to be expressed through design (clothes, sculptures, furniture, architecture) and medicine (organs).
I believe that being able to play across disciplines will increase my understanding of processes and experiment in lower risk situations, to ensure that when this technology is applied in high risk situations (such as growing buildings or organs), we are better informed.
Therefore, my bioengineer application will address how complex morphologies come into being through the playful medium of clothing and sculpture. Follows is my Design Concept:
Grown creations are not to be used in military or medical settings.
Creation must positively contribute to the environment
Clothing development could have medicinal or military use, but be pawned off as clothing. An example of this we see in industry in with “wellness” drinks, claiming to have health benefitting effects but not having to undergo FDA regulation.
Creations once disposed must create a positive impact on the environment - what do they decay into? Sculptures repurposed as coral Reefs?
The cell types to be used need to be ethically sourced, and same to work with.
Cell types must be ethically sourced and research need not be conducting in a laboratory setting, allowing small time designers to experiment and express creative freedom.
| Action 1: Political | Action 2: Environmental | Action 3: Security and Safety | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purpose | To ensure that biological creations are playful expressions, exploring morphogenesis. | To ensure that biological creations a vessel for positive impact. | To ensure that this research is not confided to Universities, and in the hands of small designers. |
| Design | All biologically designed creations undergo a regulation process to prove that they have no medical or military functional use. | Designers must present a full-life cycle for their creations. | Creative freedom would be allowed to flourish. |
| Assumptions | We have the adequate technology to screen biological creations. | Biological design will have a positive impact | That small creatives plan to experiment with biology. |
| Risk and Failure | This would cause additional beau acracy for creatives trying to make it to market. | Misalignment in theory and practice… In theory this will be a net positive… but in practice? | Misuse of biological engineering outside of clothing/sculpture applications |
Action 2 takes the highest priority as well because with growing clothes/sculptures the intention of switching to biology as a design medium is partially to positively impact the environment. If we do not put these regulations in place, and force designers to think about the circularity of their products, then we run the risk of further harm to the environment. The trade-off would be with creative freedom, as there would be a higher barrier to entry for creations to come to market.
I realized how hard it was to make a rule that addressed Lab Safety, and Biosecurity. Further, in this innovative field, it is much easier to create ideas that “prevent incidents” rather than ideas that “help respond” as we are still learning what we will be responding to.
It is important that the government stays at the cutting edge, and informed on the latest innovations to ensure that the government responses are adequately adapting to the changing times.