San Jose, California, USA
Dan Harden and Cole Derby of Whipsaw design a bioelectric sensor for KoniKore, that use live brain neurons fused to a silicon chip to “smell” compounds in the air, such as pathogens, cancer cells, explosives, and more.
The project has been awarded a 2021 Good Design Award by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
The genius of this innovation lies in how these devices convert a life-form signal from a programmed neuron into a digital message.
In other words, you can give the neurons in the sensors a particular instruction, such as sniffing out threats in an airport or “tasting” food for quality assurance.
The living cells inside are bathed in a nutrient-rich microfluidics chamber, sampling air from the surrounding environment.
This radical field of merging biology, technology, and design is exciting, to say the least, and represents a unique opportunity for life-changing innovation.
The devices are nicknamed Jellyfish and Morph.
Both of them have a clear cast acrylic outer housing with a special vacuum sputtering process to colorize and treat the surface.
This translucent material gives some visibility to the inside without giving away trade secrets. The appearance was heavily inspired by the KoniKore technology inside.
Project: Koniku Konikore Bio-Electric Sensor
Designers: Dan Harden and Cole Derby, Whipsaw, Inc.
Manufacturer: Koniku
