Mixing Science With Art: Biology of Microbes at CC

CC students create art using biology in this multi-week agar art lab project in Dr. Jesús Peña’s Biology of Microbes class.

Agar art is created by culturing microorganisms like bacteria or yeast in specific patterns to create images. When grow on agar in a petri dish, microbes grow as discrete colonies, and each colony will exhibit features characteristic of the microbe making that colony. Visiting Assistant Professor of Organismal Biology and Ecology Peña gives the example that Serratia marcescens is a bacterium that produces a red pigment, so colonies of S. marcescens appear as bright red dots.

“More often however, these colonies appear as beige or yellow dots, so students learn about more subtle colony features to help them differentiate between microbial organisms,” Peña says. “Fungi, on the other hand, are not only colorful but also exhibit different textures. The first step in the project is to identify these colony features and to learn about how each of the microbes under observation grow and eventually how they interact with each other.”

During the first week of the course, students select an environmental sample. When Peña taught the class the first two times, he used compost from the CC Farm as the environmental sample. For this current Block 4 class, however, Peña partnered with Visiting Assistant Professor in the Southwest Studies Program Dr. April Bojorquez to sample soil from a site in Pueblo that has been ecologically restored using indigenous stewardship practice. Half the class sampled soil from the restored area and the other half samples from a neighboring un-restored site.

Biology of Microbes introduces students to foundational concepts of microbiology. They learn about the diversity of microbes, microbial evolution, the roles of microbes in the environment, and their impacts on animal and plant life. The course emphasizes how microbes interact with non-microbial organisms and their role as important components of the human microbiome and the biogeochemical processes.

“There were a few motivating factors for developing and incorporating the agar art project,” says Peña. “All of my classes have at least one creative thinking or creative expression project. I think creative projects allow for reflection and give students the opportunity to practice thinking differently about scientific concepts.”

The American Society for Microbiology has run a yearly agar art competition since 2015 as a way to combine art and science.

“I include it in my class not just as a demonstration of how well art and science complement each other, but to encourage students to practice creative thinking in science,” Peña says. “Beneath the surface, the agar art project in my class is an experiment focused on fungal-bacterial ecology.”

Peña also includes the agar art project because it parallels the way someone might approach microbiology research, as it is a multi-week project with each lab building on the prior one. Students have a goal of creating agar art and work their way to that by conducting labs leading up to the final project.

“As students explore the properties of their isolated microbes, they start planning their agar art piece and adjust as they learn more information about their ‘living paints,’” Peña says. “At the end of the block, students generate their agar artwork and have a finished product that reflects the effort they’ve invested into the lab as well as highlighting their lab skills and understanding of concepts from class.”

Students agreed that the labs building on each other was a massive benefit to their learning and prepared them well for future research.

“It was a pretty brilliant setup; each lab taught a procedure or lab technique that was used in the final creation of our agar art,” says Asa Gartrell ’26, an Organismal Biology and Ecology major and Journalism minor. “For instance, one of our first labs was learning to plate bacteria at the colony- and individual-level, which we used in the final lab to single out fungi and bacteria we wanted to use as ‘paints.’ It was an engaging experience that made me hold on tighter to what I learned each lab so I could be a better agar artist.”

Makenna Wells ’25, who took the class this past Block 4, was in the restored soil group and appreciated that the four labs leading up to the agar art project build on each other.

“The first lab was enumerating the microbes, the second lab was creating pure cultures for the microbes, the third lab was identifying our bacterial and fungal species, and the fourth lab was creating a bacterial lawn to see which fungi have antibacterial properties,” says Wells, a Biochemistry major. “My favorite lab was Lab 3 when we identified our bacterial and fungal species because it was rewarding to know that these microbes were from a sample that I collected, so there was a big sense of ownership and pride while I was observing my microbial plates.”

Wells created a sun with clouds by using a yellow rod-shaped bacteria and white Geotrichum fungus for her agar art project.

“My favorite part about this course is to see how microbes impact every aspect of our lives,” Wells says. “I did not know how persistent microbes were until after taking this course.”

Peña’s goal for students is to leave the class with an appreciation and understanding for the roles that microbes play on Earth as dual agents of destruction and creation.

“The agar art project gives students an opportunity to take a peek at the unseen interactions in the microbial world while making it a personal and reflective experience,” he says. “Additionally, the fact that their microbes come from a local, often CC-associated, environment, it highlights the ubiquitousness of microbes while centering sense of place, giving us the opportunity to meet some the tiniest members of our community.”

“Before taking this class, I was more interested in the animal and plant biology side of the major, but I left the class with a greater appreciation for microbes,” says Ryley Olsen ’27, an Organismal Biology and Ecology major. “I now see that learning about microbes is foundational to all other aspects of biology. I have found myself reflecting on this class often, both in class as I progress through my major but also outside of it.”

Kailey Frobose ’27, an Organismal Biology and Ecology major, says her favorite part of the class was how lab intensive and hands on it was.

“I’ve never taken an independent lab class like Dr. Peña’s before, and I think it was a great way to learn,” she says. “The labs were very hands-on and group led. There was a lot of freedom and willingness to try different techniques without the fear of messing something up. In the whole class, I learned a ton about fungi and mushrooms as well as viruses.”

Frobose says another one of her favorite parts of the labs was how it all built on itself and eventually led to the agar art project.

Dayleigh Bos ’28 says her favorite part of the class was the labs. “I’ve learned patience, the value of detail, and efficiency,” she says. “The labs have a defined time slot and specific directions, making it easy to make mistakes when rushing. There are also many intricate objects and actions that require great attention to detail, so you must work both quickly and efficiently to avoid issues and stay timely.”

Bos plans to double major in Molecular Biology and Political Science with a goal of pursuing a career in patent law, environmental non-profit, and biotechnology in antiaging. She decided to take this class because it relates both to her major and field of study and is an interesting topic that she hadn’t researched independently.

Students are given a wide range of artistic freedom when it comes to creating the images. Peña’s only guidelines are that students’ agar art project must feature the exploitation of fungal-bacterial interactions and that it is in line with CC’s institutional equity and belonging initiative.

“It was interesting to teach this class in Block 4 2023 and Block 7 2024 as you get a sense for what students are dreaming about,” he says. “In Block 4, the art pieces featured winter and holiday themes whereas in Block 7 there were a lot of vacation landscapes like lakes, beaches, and mountains.”

Marcilla Kollie ’25, an Organismal Biology and Ecology major and Religion minor, was one of the students inspired to create an image of the upcoming holidays for her agar art project.

“My experience when it came to participating in a multi-week agar art lab was that it took a lot of patience,” says Kollie. “First, we had to grow our microorganisms and then later subculture them for use in our art. It was enjoyable to see the microorganisms you worked hard to grow, flourish in an art piece.”

“My favorite part of the class was the agar art competition, as it was a really unique and interesting way to learn about bacterial and fungal interactions,” says Jack Hills ’26, an Organismal Biology and Ecology major and Creative Writing minor. “I also thought that learning about biofilm, and how it was a collaborative effort of bacteria to create and survive in these colonies in nutrient rich areas. I also really enjoyed the virus day, as they are such a unique type of microbe, and also highly relevant in today’s society.” Hills was inspired to take Peña’s Mycology, an upper-level OBE class, this year because of how much he liked Peña’s teaching in the Biology of Microbes class.

Some students found that they had to pivot mid-project, as their original plans for the agar art image did not work out.

“I had big plans for my art piece,” says Brian Marks ’25, an Organismal Biology and Ecology major and Molecular Biology minor. “It was going to be a black cat with red eyes and a bowtie and whiskers but unfortunately the black fungal colony that I used to color the face did not grow as fast as I had hoped. Nonetheless, I was pleased with outcome because the process was fun and engaging.”

Leah Rubner ’27 enjoyed her Block 4 2023 Biology of Microbes class so much that she ended up declaring a Molecular and Cellular Biology major after taking the course. She especially liked the agar art project.

“The lab incorporated creativity into a predominantly scientific project and progressed with our learning throughout the block,” says Rubner, who added that this was her first biology class at CC. “I found the process fascinating as it provided a creative lens to view relationships we were investigating within the microbial world. The end product was a combination of bacterial and fungal interactions placed carefully to form an image.”

“Leading up to the agar art, we did serial dilutions, streak plating, and we co-inoculated the bacteria and fungi,” says Piper George ’28, who took the class this past Block 4. “It was super cool to see them interact and experience the anti-bacterial properties of our fungi in real time. One thing I have learned is that microbes are everywhere and are critical to pretty much every aspect of life.”