As they work to help find a solution for polluted water in Bangladesh, Rhode Island School of Design students also are developing practical design skills that could one day make significant contributions to the developing Knowledge Economy in the state.
Some 16 RISD students in late October completed the first half of associate professor Peter Yeadon’s advanced studio course, using what Yeadon called “synbio” to design
a water-test kit for Bangladesh. Synbio is short for synthetic biology, which involves the engineering of organisms with novel behavior not found in nature.
From the students’ point of view, the studio course is unique for two reasons: Yeadon, who has taught at RISD since 2002, said this is the first time he has had students engage directly with scientific researchers, and it’s the first time he has had his students work with genetically modified organisms (GMO) as a material.
“We have a genetically modified organism right in the device that we’re designing, as if it’s part of the device,” he said. “So you can think of this living organism as a kind of material in the product.”
The GMO is a bacterium (Escherichia coli) developed in 2006 by researchers at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, that raises the acidity of water when there is arsenic in it. “We’ve been working with [three researchers in the United Kingdom, Massachusetts and California] to turn that phenomenon into a sensor device for testing well water in Bangladesh where problems with arsenic in the water are acute,” Yeadon told Providence Business News.
Estimates are that as many as 77 million people in Bangladesh (2009 population 162 million) are exposed to high levels of arsenic, Yeadon said, due in part to the geological formation of the country. Most of its water comes from 8.6 million wells, Yeadon said. Any sensor device that the students help develop could be used anywhere in the world, on any water suspected of arsenic contamination, Yeadon said.
The work of designing a prototype sensor comes with several constraints.
Yeadon noted the device must be inexpensive to manufacture, small and portable. Of utmost concern is, “how do you deal with this organism, this bacterium, in the sensor device, shipping it and potentially disposing of it,” Yeadon said. “How do you consider keeping it dry? Initially, it’s freeze-dried and then, when it becomes moist, it comes alive basically.”
But other research is sure to be the first step in a process that could some day see such arsenic-sensor devices, for example, designed, manufactured and marketed here, becoming an important part of the Knowledge Economy. The latter is an effort that aims to make Rhode Island an innovation leader in the fields of health care and life sciences, technology, research and development, and alternate energy sources.
Christine Smith, executive director of the R.I. Science and Technology Advisory Council, a state-supported organization that invests about $1.5 million annually in local research, said classes like Yeadon’s “fit in broadly with what we in Rhode Island look to build upon as our strengths” – in this case, design.
“We’re getting back to what made Rhode Island strong,” she added. It wasn’t just the manufacturing of jewelry, for instance, “it was the design.”
Design maintains a strong presence in the state. Statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor show that as of 2007 Rhode Island, at approximately 500 industrial designers, has more industrial designers per capita than any other state except Michigan, due in large measure to the presence of RISD.
In fact, RISD President John Maeda is a major proponent of using art and design to further science and technology.
A noted artist and graphic designer himself, Maeda recently initiated a program called “STEM to STEAM” at RISD. Science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) are seen as integral to innovation and, to that equation, Meada would add the arts (STEAM), according to information provided by RISD.
Yeadon’s design studio is a “perfect example” of STEM to STEAM, noted Danielle Mancuso, media specialist for RISD.
“This research demonstrates the leading edge of collaborative work between designers and scientists, particularly how industrial designers can work effectively with scientific researchers to develop important applications for synthetic biology,” Yeadon said.
Alexander Epstein, a RISD junior from New Haven, Conn., who is a student in Yeadon’s design studio, said he found the class worthwhile because “it allows you to take all the skills and ideas you’re taught in industrial design and use them in a real-world setting.”
Students worked in four groups of four each, but Yeadon declined to reveal the specifics of the devices they designed, for proprietary reasons. He also declined to discuss who would own the rights to the device if it ever is marketed.
His immediate goal “is to make some prototypes that we can take to Bangladesh this winter and test,” Yeadon said. “We’ll have to see how the designs work, whether or not they have to be improved, and then we’ll see if we can find the funding to implement this somehow.”
As an example of other uses for emergent materials, Yeadon spoke of students who have used the reactive properties of “smart” materials to design cutlery that will change color when it comes in contact with a peanut protein to warn those with peanut allergies, and a tire manufactured with a polymer strip on its wall that changes color when pressure drops too low.
Smart materials are engineered to react to changes in the environment. Developed for military and biomedical uses, “smart materials” are not alive – unlike synthetic biology organisms – and “are around us right now, but we don’t think of it,” Yeadon said. He cited as an example the 1960s mood rings that would change color as body temperature changes. •
