The Residents
The Residents We are delighted to announce the Synthetic Aesthetics residents who will be working together in partnerships. Between July and December, each pair will spend two weeks together in the laboratory and two weeks in the design/art studio. These exchanges will be documented by our team and by the residents on our new site, coming soon.
Christina Agapakis & Sissel Tolaas
iGEM / energy /
symbiosis / smell
Christina Agapakis is a fourth year PhD student working on synthetic biology in Pam Silver's lab at Harvard Medical School. Her graduate work focuses on new platforms and systems for synthetic biology. full profile
With a background in mathematics, chemical science, linguistics and languages, and visual art, Sissel Tolaas has dedicated herself to Nose / Smell in all levels of life for more than twenty years. full profile
Hideo Iwasaki & Oron Catts
cyanobacteria / Bioart /
Tissue Culture
Hideo Iwasaki is working in the fields of both biological science and contemporary art. At his lab both fine/media artists and scientists share the benches for biology and art simultaneously. full profile
Oron Catts is an artist, researcher and curator whose work with the Tissue Culture and Art Project (which he founded in 1996) has been exhibited and presented internationally. full profile
Sheref Mansy & Sascha Pohflepp
Protocells / Lipids /
Self-replication / critical design
Sheref Mansy obtained his bachelor's and doctoral degrees from Ohio State University. His research interests are in the development of in vitro reconstructions of life-like systems. full profile
Sascha Pohflepp is an artist, designer and writer. He is interested in past and future technologies, what they mean to us and how they inform which worlds come true and which worlds are discarded. full profile
Fernan Federici & David Benjamin
plants / architecture /
modularity / environment
Fernan Federici is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Cambridge working in the area of Synthetic Biology. full profile
David Benjamin is Principal at architecture firm The Living, and Director of the Living Architecture Lab at Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. full profile
Mariana Leguia & Chris Chafe
Micro fluidics / oscillation /
construction sound
Mariana Leguia was born in Peru and lived in Lima until she was 19. From an early age her interests included both the arts and the sciences. full profile
Chris Chafe is a composer, improvisor, cellist, and music researcher with an interest in computers and interactive performance. full profile
Wendell Lim & Will Carey
communication / Futures /
Industrial Design / tangibles
Wendell Lim is a Professor in the Departments of Pharmacology and Biochemistry at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. full profile
Will Carey is a designer who focuses on combining interaction and industrial design to create provocative and inspiring experiences. full profile
