Installation view, Vitra Design Museum Gallery, 2019. Photograph: © Vitra Design Museum, Bettina Matthiesen.

Installation view, Vitra Design Museum Gallery, 2019. Photograph: © Vitra Design Museum, Bettina Matthiesen.

PATHOLOGY: COLONIC ALCHEMY

The ultimate synthetic pathology: the patient’s waste material turned to gold. It had always been thought that gold was impossible to synthesise; now the humble colon has become our most precious organ.

PATHOLOGY: CMYK PLAQUE

Replacing the use of artificial colourants in foods and dyes, modified E. coli self-organise into pixel-like biofilms. Cyan, magenta and yellow come from mutated green fluorescent protein; while black comes from the enzyme that pigments animal hair. Extracted from a 34-year-old man with poor dental hygiene, food colourant biofilm has built up on tooth surface.

UNLIMITED ENERGY: LUMINAIRE 

The enzyme luciferase offers an alternative to toxic mercury used in energy-saving light bulbs.

COMPUTING: MICROBECHIPS 

Nanoparticles—100 times smaller than most bacteria—build calcium phosphate structures for bioelectronic components to colonise.

PATHOLOGY: BIOLUMINESCENT KIDNEY STONES 

An epidemic of glowing kidney stones in a bioelectronics factory was traced back to poor health and safety practices. The employee responsible passed these stones naturally.

LIVING MACHINES: CARBON MONOXIDE POLLUTION SENSOR 

These living household sensors contain the protein CooA, which binds to carbon monoxide, triggering transcription of reporters DsRed2Zs and Yellow1. An orange-colour signals dangerous carbon monoxide levels.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS: OPTICAL FIBRE 

Bacteria containing the enzyme silicatein transform the sea into products. Silicic acid is polymerized from seawater to make silicate fibres for fibre optics, like in this naturally-occurring Venus Flower Basket. 

PATHOLOGY: POLLUTION-SENSING LUNG TUMOUR

A terminal pathology from a heavy smoker. A new species evolved, combining glass-fibre fabricating bacteria and a carbon monoxide sensor species, still identifiable by its manufacturer’s DNA tag.

PLASTICS: DISPOSABLE CUP

Engineered bacteria secrete the fibrous protein keratin to make biodegradable plastic. Would you drink from a cup made from the material of human hair or fingernails?

BIOELECTRONICS: LUNCHTIMER

Using a synthetic oscillator called a ‘represillator’, these bacteria are programmed to express pink protein DsRed2 at lunchtime, synchronising with the human biological clock.

PATHOLOGY: TIMER TRICHOBEZOAR

A 52-year-old male synthesised a new bacterial species in his stomach. It began to secrete a plastic mass of keratin that turns pink at lunchtime. Bezoars—or hairballs—were once prized as antidotes; this patient happily sold the rights to his novel bacteria’s DNA.

Proposal for a Linnean Taxonomy System for the Synthetic Kingdom.

New iterations drawn after discussions with experts: the Synthetic Kingdom as a spaghetti network, a “floating” kingdom, as small weeds on the existing branches, and a more ‘realistically-sized’ kingdom.