In the United Kingdom, Helene Steiner created a bio-pixel display to play games that use a protein that make jellyfish glow. Steiner’s company, Cell-Free Technology is the start up that created Bixel, the self-assembly kit that users can use to build and code their own games powered by jellyfish DNA to express Green Fluorescent Protein. Using a smartphone app, the 8×8 Bixel display changes and activates fluorescent colors to play simple games.
Steiner told Phys “Playing around with DNA usually involves using GMOs, which are not considered safe to use outside of a lab. We avoid that completely by removing the components that allow the cell to replicate, including the cell wall. What’s left is a sort of biochemical soup containing the tiny machinery that is responsible for reading DNA and writing proteins – in this case GFP.”