Xenobiota community sharing presentation on some current biohacking projects (plus some crazy ideas inside) and speculative biology artworks per Sept 2015.

1. Xenobiota
From Biohacking to Astrobiology, Speculative
Path of Biology to Strange Side of Biology
Presented by
Adhityo Wicaksono, M.Sc
and team
Yogya, September 2015

2. So What is This Thing All
About??
• Definition:
o Greek: Xenos – Strange
o Greek: Biote – Life
• We are community that trying to dig information
about life that we can see in present and
alternative-speculative existence

3. Our Goals
• To educate on BASIC scientific concept
• To teach about alternative perceptions and
positivism
• To bridge logic of science and imaginative arts
• To understand and expand our limits
• To obtain knowledge from randomness

4. Time to cut the crap and let
me show you what we did!
Prepare to be ______ <fill the blank on whatever you think>

5. Bio Battery
From soil electrode, to onion battery, to tree battery

6. Soil Battery
• How: We used soil bacteria capability on redox reaction
for electron flows and the electron is captured by
electrodes
• Soil microbes capable of bioelectrogenesis (Crittenden
et al., 2006; Caccavo Jr. et al., 1994; Lovley et al., 1993):
o Geobacter: G. metallireducens and G. Sulfurreducens
o Shewanella
o Rhodoferax
o Pseudomonas
o Clostridium
o Geothrix
o Desulfitobacterium
• Result: Up to 1010 mV of electricity in third week of
observation (in Crittenden et al., 2006 only shown max
~700 mV)

9. Project Onion: Still
growing battery
• Concept:
o Upgrade of the popular lemon and potato battery
o Living battery: The “battery” lives and grow, while electricity is harvested
• How: Utilization of electron flow by organic acids
and electrode size optimation
• Result:
o ‘Lil guy onions’ (with wire electrode) give 150-405 mV
o ‘Big guy onion’ (with plate electrode) give ~700 mV
o Combined 1177 mV on 4 onion serial assembly (lil + big onions)

10. “The Lil Guy”
“The Big Guy”

11. Project Bionic Tree: Electricity from
living plants
• Idea: Just throw that “we don’t want to grow trees
because trees only producing us oxygen and not
wifi”
• Concept: Electricity from trees by plugging
electrodes  electricity is preserved in special
device  electricity might be used for smartphone
charging or to support wifi

13. Spin Off Mission: “Spirit
Tree” Energy Project
There are more unseen to be seen

14. The Concept
• Inspired by Avatar: The Legend of Korra
• It used the same protocol as in The Bionic Tree
Project before, but it’s only to compare the voltage
of measured trees in normal place and those grown
in cemetery
• Hypothesis: As trees in cemetery collected more
water and nutritions undisturbedly, it will produced
more electricity
• Results: They are all the same, electricity voltage are
all measured around 290-330 mV

16. What next?
• Bio-energized
powerbank – Charge
from plants!

17. DIY DNA Extraction Project
Because to merely believe that soap can extract PCR-grade
DNA is seriously not enough… for us!

18. The Concept
• Conventional DNA extraction: Expensive
• Idea: We need to know the limit on how can we
afford to extract DNA using available resource
OPTIMALLY but the DNA is PCR-able
• Concept:
o First test- We use: Heating, TE-Aquabidest, hexamer primer
o Second test– We use: Various soaps and detergents

20. First Test
• First stage run: Failed
• Second stage run: Success – Protocol added: DNA
drying and resuspending
• Specimen: Sweet corn kernels
• PCR marker: Maize sucrose synthase gene (ZmSh1)
• Variables:
o Heated to 80ºC and control  Suspected for DNAse removal (Huang et
al., 1996)
o DNA diluted with Tris-EDTA and ddH2O
o Control and random hexamer primer is added

21. C – Control/not heated
H – Heated to 80ºC
A – Diluted with ddH2O
T – Diluted with TE buffer
X – Hexamer is added
N – Normal/no hexamer

22. Second Test
• Usage of various soaps and detergents for test
variables
• Specimen: Rice leaf
• PCR marker: Rice SSR marker RM12031

23. Su – Sunlight, MN – Mama Lemon, RO – Rinso liquid, SO – So Klin liquid, DT –
Dettol soap, LY – Lifebuoy hand soap, SL – So Klin floor cleaner, SS – Super Sol
floor cleaner, PN – Pond’s facial soap, WD – Wardah facial soap, PT – Pantene
shampoo, CL – Clear shampoo

24. Life on Jupiter and Mercury
Still working on it though…

25. The Concept
Jupiter Mercury
• Life emerged as
primordial cloud
• Adaptation: Aerosome
in cell
• Early life: Aerial polyps
• Low gravity
• Thrive on water from
ice in its polar region
shades
• Adaptation:
Exoskeleton

26. Jupiter

27. Jupiter

28. Mercury

29. Kinetoautotroph – Life on
Planet Aero III
Using light and chemical is not an option on this planet far far
away

30. The Concept
• A possible alternative way for alien to harvest
energy is by using kinetic energy (Schulze-Makuch
and Irwin, 2008)
• Design: “Plant” with dreadlocks and sails

32. Our Aliens
Allow us to show you aliens in our heads

33. Metabolumolesia
By Ghea P. C. (Bio UGM)
“Independent plant
capable to produce its
own light source good
enough for
photosynthesis, has
ability to trap insects, and
very adaptive root. It
spread by anemochory”

34. Alien from oceanic and
rocky planet
By: Ahmad Ardi (Bio
UGM)
“Oceanic life form in
shape of filter feeders,
ichtyoid. And semi
cybernetical life in
rocky planet”

35. TM 001 – by Annisa Resa (Bio UGM)
“Advance octopoid who eats microbes and communicating by antennae”

36. Water Ganesha, Maleo
Dragon, Kucing Api,
and Comodo Fish
By: Sahal S.M. (Bio
UGM)
“Well, the title explains
itself”

37. Thermapolen fluoresentia
By: Lailatul I. (Bio UGM)
“Black thermoautotrophic
plantoid reproducing by
using thermosensitive
pollen (spore?)”

38. Alien Gelap (Dark Alien) – By: Jaler S.M. (ELINS UGM)
“Dark island dweller of shining planet, who thrives by darkness”

39. Ichtyodrosera plantarum – By: Elory L. (Bio UGM)
“Imagine a sundew that is not a angiosperm, but it’s pteridophyta instead
and reproducing by spores”

40. Bubble Virus – By: Bintang T. (Bio UGM)
“Virus that modified to serves as tool for terraforming in comet.
Inspired from Freeman Dyson’s ‘Dyson’s Sphere’”

41. Terrazoan planetiformis – By: Adhityo W. (Bio ITB/Plant Breeding UGM)
“A gargantuan zooid creature in size of dwarf planet”

42. References
• Caccavo, Jr., F., et al., 1994. Geobacter sulfurreducens sp.
nov., a hydrogen and acetate-oxidizing dissimilatory metal-
reducing microorganism. Applied and Environmental Biology
60(10): 3752
• Crittenden, S.R., C.J. Sund, J.J Sumner. 2006. Mediating
Electron Transfer from Bacteria to a Gold Electrode via a Self-
Assembled Monolayer. Langmuir 22: 9473-9476.
• Huang, Z., M.J. Fasco, L.S. Kaminsky. 1996. Optimisation of
DNAse I removal of of contaminating DNA from RNA for use in
quantitative RNA-PCR. Biotechniques 20(6): 1012-1014.
• Lovley, DR., et al. 1993. Geobacter metallireducens gen. nov.
sp. nov., a microorganism capable of coupling the complete
oxidation of organic compounds to the reduction of iron and
other metals. Archives of Microbiology 159(4): 336
• Schulze-Makuch, D., and L.N. Irwin. 2008. Life in The Universe –
Expectations and Constraints. Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg.