Are you one of those who feel science and art are worlds apart? Well, these students from the city have proven that belief wrong. A group of design students from Srishti School of Design have done us proud. They have won the Human Practices Award at The International Genetically Engineered Machines, at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston. They have beaten over 160 teams world over to win this honour.

The team comprising 12 design students from the city put their heads together to break the barrier between art and science. After an unexpected victory at Boston, the students are in celebration mode. Team member Prakrithy Pradeep says, “The project is an artist’s view of synthetic biology. It’s our way of showing the synergy between art and science.” Fellow team member Madhul Singh adds, “Who said science is for the nerds? We have added spunk and colour to concepts which would be quite boring to read otherwise.”

The winning project used a BioBrick as a functional unit for various purposes like soil mapping, soil sampling and studying DNA. Team facilitator Yashas Shetty has been co-ordinating these projects for three years now, “I’m elated that art and design students have won a science competition! The motive is to include the community at large with these designs.”

Prakrithy says, “We used regular products like detergent and alcohol to find out our DNA. We even conducted workshops with school children and taught them similar innovative ways.” Madhul says, “The project on aerial soil sampling was very challenging! We actually made use of aerial cameras attached to helium balloons to understand soil mapping.”

Tired but extremely excited, the youngsters are all geared up to take the challenge to the next level. “Our juniors will take this concept ahead and we will help improvise it. It promises to be exciting!”