Interview with Nathan Hawkins, iGem & lab cultured psychoactive bacteria

The first Boiling Point podcast of the year is out!!

Making ‘magic mushrooms’ in a Petri dish, is it magic?

No, it’s synthetic biology!

Nick and Cat are chatting with Nathan Hawkins, a recent Sydney Uni science graduate, about iGEM, the international synthetic biology competition. Nathan and his team competed by coming up with a new low-cost method to produce psylocybin, the active ingredient in ‘magic mushrooms’ from bacteria in the lab. But fear not, psylocybin might be illegal as a drug, but new research has shown its efficacy for the treatment of various mental health conditions, including anxiety and depression

Listen in to Nathan’s story:
bit.ly/BoilingPointScience

Links:
https://2019.igem.org/Team:Sydney_Australia
https://2019.igem.org/Team:Macquarie_Australia
https://2019.igem.org/Team:UNSW_Australia