{"id":13368,"date":"2017-12-08T12:16:41","date_gmt":"2017-12-08T17:16:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sporobole.org\/isolating-intimacy\/"},"modified":"2017-12-08T12:16:41","modified_gmt":"2017-12-08T17:16:41","slug":"isolating-intimacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sporobole.org\/en\/isolating-intimacy\/","title":{"rendered":"ISOLATING INTIMACY"},"content":{"rendered":"

In looking at concepts of intimacy with\/around micro-organic entities, relationship boundaries of \u2018self\u2019 and \u2018other\u2019 are of course necessary considerations, but so are the\u00a0sites<\/strong>\u00a0where this intimacy occurs and the\u00a0processes<\/strong>\u00a0by which it occurs.<\/p>\n

(See\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0an excellent paper on \u201chuman-thrush entanglements\u201d re\u00a0Candida albicans<\/em>, self and other, by my friend and former colleague at\u00a0SymbioticA, Tarsh Bates<\/a>).<\/h6>\n

If bacterial selves dominate, feed and nurture human selves, or inflame and wreak havoc that can lead to death, what relationship frameworks best encapsulate these intimate interactions? The two practical considerations of\u00a0site<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0process<\/strong>\u00a0can possibly help delineate this. One can also ask: are these the same relationship frameworks that describe bactointimate relationships with\u00a0other<\/em>\u00a0materials? (Here I think through the bacterium, positioning\u00a0otherhood<\/em>\u00a0onto anything else it interacts with, including human and animal others, plant matter, etc.)<\/p>\n

In our next few months of research and experimentation, Denis and I will continue to actively push the centrality of\u00a0bactointimacy<\/em>\u00a0as a theme, while focusing on site(s) and process(es), in and outside of the lab.\u00a0Site<\/strong>\u00a0is our first entry point for the research.<\/p>\n

[metaslider id=”26469″]<\/p>\n

SITE<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tomorrow I will do a site visit, as part of a related research project with a Concordia-based group called\u00a0Montreal Waterways.\u00a0<\/em>We\u2019ll be visiting the site of the historic\u00a0Village des Tanneries<\/em>, in my old neighbourhood of St Henri. In fact, this site was recently\u00a0demolished \u201con the sly\u201d<\/a>\u00a0in order to make way for construction of the Turcot Interchange. I\u2019ll be going to the former Tannery Village with the\u00a0Montreal Waterways<\/em>\u00a0group to collect soil samples. This important (now destroyed) archaeological site was once a stinking cesspool of leather production \u2013 possibly a perfect site for sampling soil for the kind of bacteria that Denis and I would like to work with. The fact that this soil has been recently dug and disturbed up may turn out to be beneficial for taking samples, or it may hinder the possibility of attaining good live samples of the microbiota in the soil.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On the relevance of leather tanning\/ Village des Tanneries:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Site profile: The Tannery Village would have been located awaaaaay, on the outskirts of 18th and 19th century Montreal, due to the stench. Leather tanning back in the day was a putrid business, incorporating the fermentation of urine and animal feces (in particular, dog and pigeon droppings as well as human urine collected in \u2018piss pots\u2019) in order to soften hides into usable product. The isolation of this site, also where Montreal\u2019s poor once would have resided, speaks to its undesirability. The old colloquialism, \u201cpiss poor\u201d references the trade in human urine used for leather tanning, whereby destitute families would daily collect pots of urine to sell their liquid gold to the tannery for cash. Woe to he who was \u201ctoo poor for a pot to piss in.\u201d The leather industry was especially prolific during this time of horse carriages and transport, for saddles, harnesses, reins and the like.<\/p>\n

Not only is working with this site hugely interesting to me, partly because it relates to my ongoing\u00a0research on urine fermentation and natural dye processes<\/a>, but also because it represents an intersection point in Denis\u2019 research with bacterial enzymatic processes and my own tissue engineering research. Equally interesting to me is that I keep returning, over and over again, to the ghost presence of horses in my work!<\/p>\n

Denis and I have decided that we will work in his lab with bacterial enzymes that break down collagen and other collagen-like materials. The use of urine and feces for leather production is, more precisely, the use of specific types of bacteria that produce ammonia and enzymes that act on collagen to remove proteins and increase suppleness (usefulness). Denis is interested in going directly to the natural habitat of these bacteria in order to culture and isolate our own for our experiments. The soil samples from the\u00a0Village des Tanneries<\/em>\u00a0will be the first site, but other sites may include places like an abattoir or butcher, or other places where meat\/skins are handled. We will also purchase some of the isolated bacteria types from a supplier in order to have standardized controls, but we will first take the DIY approach. My experience with soil and water bacterial culture is limited, so I\u2019m looking forward to better learning these techniques. Denis is an expert in this area and will do the first tests and develop the best protocols to follow. Once we isolate the bacteria, we will induce enzyme production and then isolate the enzymes for use on collagen.<\/p>\n

What will we do with the collagen, exactly? Well, there\u2019s a 3D printer ready to be hacked back at Universit\u00e9 de Sherbrooke\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In looking at concepts of intimacy with\/around micro-organic entities, relationship boundaries of \u2018self\u2019 and \u2018other\u2019 are of course necessary considerations, but so are the\u00a0sites\u00a0where this intimacy occurs and the\u00a0processes\u00a0by which it occurs. (See\u00a0here\u00a0an excellent paper on \u201chuman-thrush entanglements\u201d re\u00a0Candida albicans, self and other, by my friend and former colleague at\u00a0SymbioticA, Tarsh Bates). If bacterial selves…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13318,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":[],"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/sporobole.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/img_2500.jpg",1067,800,false],"author_info":{"display_name":"jfares","author_link":"https:\/\/sporobole.org\/en\/author\/jfares\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[],"tag_info":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sporobole.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13368"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sporobole.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sporobole.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sporobole.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sporobole.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sporobole.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sporobole.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sporobole.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sporobole.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sporobole.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}