The Francis Crick Institute (the Crick) are vanguards of biomedical research and innovation. Located across the canal from Central Saint Martins (CSM) in the King's Cross Knowledge Quarter, the Crick have a reputation for discovery and invention with living systems to solve societal challenges. Their mission is ‘discovery without boundaries to benefit human health’ and they are committed to making science more approachable and accessible. The Crick Making Lab are a team of innovative engineers and biologists who design, manufacture, and apply cutting-edge devices to solve problems with scientific researchers.
For the past three years, the Crick Making Lab have selected several final year CSM MA Biodesign students to experiment and collaborate with, hosting designer residencies over the Spring and Summer Term. In 2025, three Biodesign students were selected for residencies in the Making Lab and for the first time, a Biodesign student was hosted in the Crick Electron Microscopy Lab, which specialises in hardware and software solutions for next-generation imaging experiments with living systems.
Through the residencies, Francis Crick and CSM researchers and technicians exchange knowledge and methods across their creative, technical, and science practices. Both the students and Crick scientists and technologists approach the residencies with an openness to adapting and responding to one another’s ways of working, to create socially conscious designs for more regenerative, symbiotic futures.
All CSM Biodesign students have access to experiment within the college’s Grow Lab, our Level 1 biology laboratory situated on the top floor next to the art and design studios and labs. Jon Flint, CSM Lecturer in Biodesign, and Paula Corsini, CSM Grow Lab Specialist Technician, both closely supported the students during the residencies at the Crick. Their input has shaped the osmosis of ideas and practice between the two organisations to develop new ideas, processes, and possibilities.
Every second, hundreds of devices connect to the internet for the first time. As we capture ever more detail about the world around us, a data earth is emerging: a dynamic flow of information about our climate and biosphere. Through it, we can begin to reveal nature’s voice.
Wild Data is situated within this new landscape. Technologies for environmental sensing are explored — tuning into the signals of ancient electric bacteria, listening for feedback on the health of their ecosystems.
Pebble, Pod, and Pool are devices that use bacterial sensing to monitor soil across different contexts: the lab, forests, and wetlands. By tracking the electric current produced by these microbes, we can detect subtle environmental changes. We can monitor ecosystems at scale, with minimal hardware. And perhaps, we can even imagine a future where humanity adapts to nature’s needs: an ecological revolution.
What was your motivation for working with the Francis Crick on your idea?
At the first briefing, Albane (Head of the Making Lab) introduced us to microfluidics — a way to isolate biological processes within controlled fluid systems. I saw this as a chance to deepen my research into electroactive bacteria, and to cut through some of the noise of the world around us: to tune in to their tiny voices.
Did you develop any new skills through working with the Francis Crick?
From bio-printing to scanning electron microscopy, the sophistication of tools at the Crick was initially intimidating for a designer. But the team were generous with their time, offering both formal and informal support. Over time, I grew confident and comfortable working independently — in a world I had only imagined before.
Did your creative practice or mindset change through this collaboration with the Francis Crick?
Working alongside scientists and engineers, I became aware of the difference in our approaches. Designers diving into prototyping and iteration without hesitation; researchers moving more deliberately — breaking problems down before they begin. I came to better understand the value of both design’s spontaneity and the depth of commitment it takes to make progress in scientific research.
Did any unexpected outcomes or spillover effects emerge from your residency?
I began the year assuming collaboration wouldn’t play a central role in my project. But working with the Crick, and sharing the work with friends and peers, shifted that. In addition to collaborators at the Crick, I worked with Shaun Pye (electronics engineer), Julia Fellows (design engineer), and RJ Weaver (industrial designer). The collaborative dimension expanded, and with it, the potential for what we could achieve.
Did the residency change your thoughts on how you’d like to work in the future?
I came into the collaboration an advocate for cross-disciplinary design, and I left a true believer. Spaces where scientists, engineers, designers, and artists work as one team are still rare. But I believe these are the teams that will build the future. My commitment is to find more spaces like this one. And if I can’t, I’ll make them.
Why did you want to work with the Francis Crick Making Lab on your idea?
From the beginning, my goal was to explore the creative potential of Sporosarcina Pasteurii (a bacterium) through biomineralization and to apply it to jewellery. Not as a biological tool, but as a collaborator offering insights and material expressions beyond anything I could design alone. I wanted to understand how this organism behaves, how it responds to different environments, and how its presence could gradually shape a ring over time.
The Francis Crick Institute seemed like an ideal setting to pursue this. I believed that the Making Lab could provide a space to deepen my technical knowledge and explore more advanced fabrication techniques. At the same time, having access to SEM facilities would give me the opportunity to observe the bacteria and their crystallisation process at a scale I hadn’t accessed before. These resources would help me connect more deeply with the process and stay responsive to how the project evolves.
Did you develop any new skills through working with Francis Crick?
I learned more than I could have imagined, from designing and optimising colonisable microstructures to preparing SEM samples using techniques like critical point drying. I came out of the experience with resources my past self wouldn’t have even known existed.
What stayed with me most was the way so many diverse disciplines could meet in such a careful and precise space and still leave room for emergence and imagination. That delicate balance between control and unpredictability was exactly where those skills felt most alive and relevant.
Did your creative practice or mindset change at all through this collaboration with Francis Crick?
Absolutely. The collaboration changed me in many ways, especially in how much I’ve come to value transdisciplinary collaboration.
At first, I was a bit intimidated by the idea of working alongside people with different areas of expertise, particularly because of how different our methods, approaches, and ways of problem-solving are. But that contrast is exactly what made the exchange so enriching.
Another shift was in the rhythm of my design practice. Being at the Crick made me realize how much time it truly takes to understand something as complex as microbial behaviour. In my case, trying to decode and interpret how a single bacterium responds and interacts with my own experiments, which can take years of dedicated research. That perspective made me question my own expectations. I began to embrace a slower, more patient, and observant approach.
Did any unexpected outcomes emerge from your residency?
Yes, and it quietly became one of the most meaningful turns in my project. After nearly seven months of working with biomineralisation, I reached a moment where I felt lost, where nothing seemed to confirm what I had been searching for. Around 60 experiments felt like they hadn’t been enough to hold the concept together.
It wasn’t until I observed these “failures” through electron microscopy at the Crick that something shifted. I realised the results had been there all along. I just hadn’t been looking closely enough. My own expectations as a designer had blurred my view. I had forgotten that my collaborators were working at their own pace, on a scale I hadn’t yet learned to perceive, shaping matter in ways that only revealed themselves once I was ready to notice.
Do you know what you would like to work on next following graduation?
Right after graduation, I’ll need some time to process everything. Eventually, I’d like to continue researching the potential of microbial creativity worked alongside Sporosarcina Pasteurii, observing how their behaviour evolved and translated into beautiful material outcomes. I believe it holds potential that hasn’t been fully explored yet, perhaps because people haven’t even asked themselves whether microbes could be creative. To me, the answer is yes.
What motivated you to apply to work with Francis Crick Electron Microscopy on your idea?
I was very interested in making paintings in collaboration with scientists. As an image maker, I wondered how my scientific counterparts approach making an image. Sitting down with microscopy scientists I learnt so much about the meticulous requirements for sample preparation and fine tuning of images.
What did you discover through working with the Francis Crick?
I developed an understanding of how to translate artistic ideas for scientists. I used new scientific protocols involving working with liquid nitrogen and freeze fracturing.
What's next for your practice?
The rigor and detail required in preparing imaging for microscopes made me reflect on how I create my reference images. In future, I am looking forward to exploring more elaborate processes for creating reference images. I am really excited at the paintings that emerged from this collaboration. Post graduation, I still have many images from the collaboration that I wish to translate. I am very excited to work on an exhibition of paintings based on the images generated or gifted to me through the collaboration. I think there is something inherently political about making science visible in this complex post-truth era infecting the western world.
Inspired by the violent suppression of student-led protests against genocide in Gaza, ALWAKIA (Arabic for The Protectress) responds to a world where resisting injustice is life-threatening. ALWAKIA is a statement piece of protective gear, designed for student activists who risk their bodies to amplify their voices. Crafted from bacterial nacre, a living material grown with Sporosarcina Pasteurii through biomineralisation, it mimics mother-of-pearl without harming ecosystems.
In the face of extractive systems, ALWAKIA collaborates with the living: bacteria, artisans, and activists, to propose a future shaped by care, resistance, and regeneration. Offering an impact-resistant, structured armour, the project draws on endangered Levantine nacre inlay traditions, fusing cultural resilience with ecological responsibility.
As student movements rise globally in the face of genocide, war, and ecocide, this biologically forged armour becomes both shield and symbol. It empowers a generation to protest injustice while preserving the crafts and ecosystems they fight for.
Why did you want to work with the Francis Crick?
My motivation was to bridge scientific infrastructure with activist-driven bio design. ALWAKIA required highly specific fabrication and imaging processes that wouldn’t have been possible without this collaboration. The Francis Crick Institute provided access to advanced tools, particularly the 3D bioprinter, which enabled me to fabricate intricate chitosan scaffolds central to my material system. I was also eager to engage with scientists and methodologies that could elevate the technical precision of my work, while still grounding it in cultural heritage, political urgency, and ecological storytelling.
What new skills did you develop?
I learned to operate the 3D bioprinter and optimise scaffold geometry for bio fabrication, skills that were central to prototyping ALWAKIA’s protective structures. I also explored PDMS microfluidics moulding as a backup technique when bioprinting posed challenges, gaining insight into alternative scaffold fabrication methods. Additionally, I was trained on the Sensofar machine for surface morphology analysis and used the SEM to study the microstructure of my biomineralized scaffolds with clarity and depth.
Did your creative practice change at all through this collaboration?
Absolutely. Access to precision tools transformed my approach from material experimentation to evidence-based fabrication. While the biomineralisation protocols were developed and carried out in the Grow Lab at CSM, the ability to bioprint precise chitosan scaffolds and analyse their mineralisation using surface morphology tools and SEM imaging at the Crick enabled me to connect visual aesthetics with material performance. This collaboration reinforced that biodesign can be both scientifically grounded and politically intentional, merging technical precision with ecological and cultural resistance.
Is there anything else you’d like to share about your residency experience?
One key outcome was the shift in how I evaluated the success of a design, moving from purely conceptual impact to evidence-based material performance. Seeing the mineral bridges form on my scaffolds under SEM analysis gave tangible proof of what had previously been theoretical. It also opened up dialogue with researchers interested in biomaterials, showing that design-led projects can offer provocations and insights within scientific environments.
The residency affirmed how vital scientific collaboration is to my design practice. I’d like to continue seeking partnerships with researchers and institutions, as these exchanges bring technical depth and new perspectives that meaningfully enrich my work. At the same time, I remain interested in developing more accessible, out-of-lab approaches to biomaterial exploration, ones that open biodesign to broader communities. Going forward, I see myself working at the intersection of biology, activism, and cultural heritage, building systems that are both materially robust and socially engaged.
The collaborative project between CSM Forest School, Forestry England and Material Cultures – a not-for-profit research and design studio working towards a post-carbon built environment – questions and responds to the impact of monoculture plantation woodlands on our landscape.