@chitownbio.bsky.social
We're all set up for tomorrow is Glenwood Avenues Art Festival. You should come visit us! We are Booth 76!
August 16, 2025 at 3:37 AM
We're all set up for tomorrow is Glenwood Avenues Art Festival. You should come visit us! We are Booth 76!
Big thanks to our hosts at @mhub for letting us use their space for the Fermenter! It was great to see so many people during a busy season. Join us next month on September 2nd for the next fermenter!
August 6, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Big thanks to our hosts at @mhub for letting us use their space for the Fermenter! It was great to see so many people during a busy season. Join us next month on September 2nd for the next fermenter!
This picture is motivational more than anything else. We were given so many wonderful pieces of equipment and tools this week, and we have to get our act in order to get these all cataloged, sorted, and ready to use. This is motivational. Check back on Thursday. You're going to see a beautiful lab.
August 4, 2025 at 2:14 AM
This picture is motivational more than anything else. We were given so many wonderful pieces of equipment and tools this week, and we have to get our act in order to get these all cataloged, sorted, and ready to use. This is motivational. Check back on Thursday. You're going to see a beautiful lab.
Check it out! We got a shaking incubator! We are so excited about this. More details to come!
August 1, 2025 at 12:31 AM
Check it out! We got a shaking incubator! We are so excited about this. More details to come!
There's a company that's going to be starting up in our lab very soon that is working on exciting varieties of house plants, learning how to culture them, and potentially learning how to engineer them. This is one of their first items they're going to sell, and we have to admit it looks beautiful.
July 28, 2025 at 10:09 PM
There's a company that's going to be starting up in our lab very soon that is working on exciting varieties of house plants, learning how to culture them, and potentially learning how to engineer them. This is one of their first items they're going to sell, and we have to admit it looks beautiful.
Second day of our workshop on natural dyes with teenagers at the North Park Village Nature Center. So grateful for the opportunity to work with our community directly.
July 26, 2025 at 11:51 PM
Second day of our workshop on natural dyes with teenagers at the North Park Village Nature Center. So grateful for the opportunity to work with our community directly.
Today when pHing some media, we got to have an excuse to use one of our Fleakers. We have some pretty unique glassware here. Has anyone sees these before?
July 25, 2025 at 12:38 AM
Today when pHing some media, we got to have an excuse to use one of our Fleakers. We have some pretty unique glassware here. Has anyone sees these before?
When we were first setting up the lab, our president had a lot of doubts about our little autoclave, but this guy has been a real workhorse. We'll update you a little bit tomorrow on some of the mushroom work that we've been doing since our workshop this last weekend, but shout out to our autoclave.
July 3, 2025 at 10:49 PM
When we were first setting up the lab, our president had a lot of doubts about our little autoclave, but this guy has been a real workhorse. We'll update you a little bit tomorrow on some of the mushroom work that we've been doing since our workshop this last weekend, but shout out to our autoclave.
So excited to show off all the plates that were the results of these concoctions as we head into the woods today! Join us for our mushroom event with the Chicago mushroom Club!
June 28, 2025 at 3:29 PM
So excited to show off all the plates that were the results of these concoctions as we head into the woods today! Join us for our mushroom event with the Chicago mushroom Club!
Is ChiTownBio trading in our lab coats for a kitchen apron? No! But did you know a lot of the materials in your kitchen can be used as media for growing mushrooms? We're making a bunch of media for our event tomorrow with the Chicago mushroom Club! Check out our Meetup page for more info.
June 27, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Is ChiTownBio trading in our lab coats for a kitchen apron? No! But did you know a lot of the materials in your kitchen can be used as media for growing mushrooms? We're making a bunch of media for our event tomorrow with the Chicago mushroom Club! Check out our Meetup page for more info.
It worked! We were checking if we could grow up strains of E coli without worrying about contamination and other Wells in our tiny shaking incubator. And it looks good! Now we have our first two glycerol stocks for our freezer!
June 26, 2025 at 5:36 PM
It worked! We were checking if we could grow up strains of E coli without worrying about contamination and other Wells in our tiny shaking incubator. And it looks good! Now we have our first two glycerol stocks for our freezer!
Until we can get a bigger shaking incubator, we're going to see how this works for growing up some bacterial cultures. We'll let you know how the experiment goes tomorrow!
June 25, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Until we can get a bigger shaking incubator, we're going to see how this works for growing up some bacterial cultures. We'll let you know how the experiment goes tomorrow!
These are two shiitake plates we started growing on June 5th. It's been 14 days, & they both show substantial growth. However, they have very different morphologies. Anyone have a hypothesis of why these look so different? We think it might have something to do with breadcrumb content in each plate.
June 19, 2025 at 10:19 PM
These are two shiitake plates we started growing on June 5th. It's been 14 days, & they both show substantial growth. However, they have very different morphologies. Anyone have a hypothesis of why these look so different? We think it might have something to do with breadcrumb content in each plate.
Looks like our slime mold needs subculturing. We'll have more opportunities to work with The very clever and strangely intelligent slime mold Physarum polycephalim very shortly.
June 18, 2025 at 11:26 AM
Looks like our slime mold needs subculturing. We'll have more opportunities to work with The very clever and strangely intelligent slime mold Physarum polycephalim very shortly.
Some of the mushroom cultures we started a week ago have started to spread over our plates! We're growing oyster and shitake to show fungal culture on agar plate. We're going to see if we can get native species to culture well in the lab, and you should join us for that adventure. shorturl.at/54jkd
June 15, 2025 at 10:48 AM
Some of the mushroom cultures we started a week ago have started to spread over our plates! We're growing oyster and shitake to show fungal culture on agar plate. We're going to see if we can get native species to culture well in the lab, and you should join us for that adventure. shorturl.at/54jkd
Happy 10 anniversary to the Biodesign Challenge. Bringing artists and designers into the important conversation about the future of biotechnology is an amazing feat. Let's keep going until everyone can actively participate in critical engagement with our field.
June 14, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Happy 10 anniversary to the Biodesign Challenge. Bringing artists and designers into the important conversation about the future of biotechnology is an amazing feat. Let's keep going until everyone can actively participate in critical engagement with our field.
We're organizing another beach cleanup with Chientist and TechWalk Chicago as another networking event for Chicago's biotech scene. Keep your eyes on our account for more information on the event in the coming weeks (And keep the evening of August 13th open!)
June 13, 2025 at 1:14 PM
We're organizing another beach cleanup with Chientist and TechWalk Chicago as another networking event for Chicago's biotech scene. Keep your eyes on our account for more information on the event in the coming weeks (And keep the evening of August 13th open!)
It's day 1 of BDC year 10! Biotech needs new ideas, and looking to the design community and asking them how they would use biology to create new technologies is fascinating.
June 12, 2025 at 3:52 PM
It's day 1 of BDC year 10! Biotech needs new ideas, and looking to the design community and asking them how they would use biology to create new technologies is fascinating.
ChiTownBio's president is in NYC for the Biodesign Challenge Symposium. We keep getting shout outs, but we're most excited about cool tools for our community. Martin just spoke about this FREE to submit journal talking about combining biology, design, and pedagogy.
June 11, 2025 at 2:28 PM
ChiTownBio's president is in NYC for the Biodesign Challenge Symposium. We keep getting shout outs, but we're most excited about cool tools for our community. Martin just spoke about this FREE to submit journal talking about combining biology, design, and pedagogy.
So just trying spirulina on glassware is not going to be sufficient. So much of it sticks to the glass grind. It's really hard to scrape off. We're going to try putting it on a piece of parafilm. Fingers crossed.
June 10, 2025 at 11:09 AM
So just trying spirulina on glassware is not going to be sufficient. So much of it sticks to the glass grind. It's really hard to scrape off. We're going to try putting it on a piece of parafilm. Fingers crossed.
It looks like we're getting a sclerotia forming! Now that we have the protocol worked out, we can start making a bunch of material that people can take home and grow themselves. This is exciting!
June 9, 2025 at 1:36 PM
It looks like we're getting a sclerotia forming! Now that we have the protocol worked out, we can start making a bunch of material that people can take home and grow themselves. This is exciting!
We recultured this oyster mushroom plate, but we wanted to figure out who the interlopers were. We think it's penicillium? Anyone know?
June 6, 2025 at 4:12 PM
We recultured this oyster mushroom plate, but we wanted to figure out who the interlopers were. We think it's penicillium? Anyone know?
What a great Fermenter last night! Thanks to our host at @happilabs.org ! Did you miss out on the networking and comradery from the biotech community? You should come next month! www.meetup.com/chitownbio/e...
June 4, 2025 at 7:57 PM
What a great Fermenter last night! Thanks to our host at @happilabs.org ! Did you miss out on the networking and comradery from the biotech community? You should come next month! www.meetup.com/chitownbio/e...
40 lb of trash. What a great day for a beach cleanup! And what a great day for citizen science! Thanks everyone who came out.
June 1, 2025 at 5:17 PM
40 lb of trash. What a great day for a beach cleanup! And what a great day for citizen science! Thanks everyone who came out.
In preparation for our event on June 28th with the Chicago mushroom Club, we're starting some cultures of common woodrot mushrooms from the store. Let's see if we can get some oysters and shiitakes growing on some breadcrumb media!
May 31, 2025 at 10:57 PM
In preparation for our event on June 28th with the Chicago mushroom Club, we're starting some cultures of common woodrot mushrooms from the store. Let's see if we can get some oysters and shiitakes growing on some breadcrumb media!