The BioStrike Project - DIY citizen science experimental competition to find new antibiotics

<p>Antibiotics have saved millions of lives over the last century. However, many microbes have evolved new mechanisms to withstand these once powerful medicines. Participate in the BioStrike challenge to hunt for new antibiotics and learn about the microbiology that's all around us, starting in your own backyard and kitchen.</p> <p><strong>What goes on? (The Science)</strong></p> <p>There are microbes all around us and everywhere on the planet. They are constantly competing and battling to survive and evolve.</p> <p>Some microbes produce compounds that are toxic to other microorganisms, and these compounds can be used as antibiotics in medicine. The microbes and antibiotics are different all over the world and also depending on what the microbes are growing on, what medium.</p> <p><strong>Who?</strong></p> <p>We invite individuals, high schools and communities to participate in the search for new antibiotic producing microorganisms. It’s up to the participants to find the optimal conditions and measure the capability of their strain to inhibit the growth of the reference strain. The results and strains will be collected and ranked on a global ladder. The data will be openly peer-reviewed by the organizing community.</p> <p><strong>Organization (Explanation)</strong></p> <p><strong>The BioStrike project</strong> is a collaborative open citizen science project. It started as a collaboration between several international Do-It-Yourself Biology groups. Brought to life during an Innoculab session, by the Waag Society Open Wetlab and BiologiGaragen during the Re-new Festival in Copenhagen Oct. 2013.</p> <p><strong>The BioStrike challenge combines and facilitates</strong>:</p> <p>A fun gamified competition and participatory community</p> <p>Open participatory experiential learning</p> <p>Low barrier to enter the challenge, but a potential of a gradually increasing learning curve as the participants progresses</p> <p>Global scientific collaboration between organisers.</p> <p>Potential of discovering new antibiotics through Open drug discovery.