Today we had a really interesting meeting with Dr. Marc Dusseiller, a Swiss researcher, lecturer and workshhopologist, to pick his brain (still not literally speaking) about the phases of our project. 

Marc is this interdisciplinary figure, who did a PhD in Material Science, Nanotechnology and Biomedical Microdevices at ETHZ, working with materials and techniques to advance tissue culture. So something totally related to what we hope to pursue in the phase 2 of Creativity in vitro!

Based in Zurich, Switzerland, he has done lots of work with open hardware, DIY Bio, art-science collaborations and much more. I had the pleasure to meet Marc in the past (probably around 2015 or 2016) due to the Biohack Academy and my involvement with the Gathering for Open Science Hardware (GOSH) and he is an interesting alchemist to action now that we are pursuing this path to actively connect with experts in the different fields and disciplines necessary for this craziness we are doing. It was fun to hear him say during the conversation

“I used to be a researcher, now I’m this freak”

As though there wasn’t some genius flavor to the different projects and initiatives he has been involved with during the past years.

Among references and input on possible research groups, institutions and people we could connect with to further develop the project, he mentioned that brain organoids are no easy endeavour. We are aware it will take several months (and many many dollars) to be able to generate iPS cells and, from there, the cells that will give origin to the neurons that will form the organoids. When talking about experiments with biopsy from brain tissue he pointed out that “we have no pain in the brain” and that the procedure would involve essentially drilling a hole through the skull and “taking a scoop” of tissue, to quote him again. It’s fun how easy he made that sound. But do not worry, we are not planning on taking biopsies for the project (I guess…)

Another interesting piece of information he shared was that when reprogramming cells, the researcher cannot work with his/her own cells, since they would not be recognized by the person’s immune system, and could generate cancer and disease! So when we get there, I guess me and Lina will have to switch the Petri dishes.

We will digest and percollate on all these references and insights.
Oh how I love our network!