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I was excited to participate in the HTGAA 2026 collaborative pixel artwork experiment. My main contribution was helping create part of the “2026” design on the left corner of the canvas, as well as contributing to the yellow and cyan giraffe section, the rainbow mandala near the center-bottom region, and a small Ecuadorian flag on the left side of the artwork showed on the Figures 1 and Figure 7. The collaborative work was on: https://rcdonovan.com
Figure 1. My contributions to the HTGAA 2026 collaborative pixel artwork project. Made on April 19th 2026
Figure 2. Comparison between before and after by other global students
htgaa_spring_2026_pixel_artwork_timelapse.mp4
Figure 3. Video of the Timeline made by Ronan!
Link of the Art Forum: https://forum.htgaa.org/t/global-pixel-artwork-cooperation-guidelines/559/16
One of the things I enjoyed the most about this project was seeing how students from different countries and backgrounds collaborated in real time to build a single large-scale bioart piece together. I especially liked browsing the HTGAA forum and observing how creative and diverse the ideas from other global participants were (Figure 2). Additionally, the timeline visualization created by Ronan using the pixel history tool made the collaborative process feel even more dynamic and memorable (Figure 3).
I also appreciated how this project combined synthetic biology, digital art, and community participation into a shared scientific-artistic experience. It made the course feel more connected globally, even for remote participants and committed listeners! Finally, for the collab of HTGAA 2026 and SynBioBeta, the final image of the global collab image (Figures 6 & 7).
As part of the second collaborative phase of the experiment, I also contributed to preliminary reagent composition planning for the cell-free fluorescent artwork reactions. My contribution focused on testing small variations in ribose and glucose supplementation across multiple wells in order to explore how sustained energy metabolism could affect long-term fluorescence during extended incubation (Figures 4 & 5).
Figure 4. Initial reagent adjustment planning for cell-free fluorescence optimization
Figure 5. Table of contribution ana-gomez
(Click to Open)
Figure 6. Final collaborative HTGAA 2026 fluorescent artwork. HTGAA 2026 (May 20, 2026). Most recent Art pixel collaboration screenshot
Figure 7. HTGAA 2026 collaborative artwork before the SynBioBeta integration (May 05, 2026). I contributed to the giraffe section on the left corner with the yellow and cyan background, the rainbow mandala near the bottom center, and the small Ecuadorian flag on the left side of the canvas.
Future recommendations: I think it could be improved by providing a larger editable canvas area or allowing teams to reserve small collaborative regions in advance. This could help participants coordinate more complex designs while still maintaining the spontaneous and creative nature of the project. Additionally, one aspect that noticeably improved during the experiment was the pixel placement cooldown time, which was reduced from 30 seconds at the beginning to only 5 seconds later on. This significantly improved the collaborative experience and allowed participants to contribute more efficiently to the evolving artwork.
Figure 8. Cell Free Master Mix-Composition | MIT-HTGAA 2026 | Week 11: https://2026a.htgaa.org/2026a/course-pages/weeks/week-11/index.html
The optimized 20-hour incubation formulation is a ribose-based cell-free TXTL system designed to sustain long-duration fluorescent protein expression through indirect nucleotide and energy regeneration pathways. The reaction composition can be divided into the following categories: E. coli Lysate, Salts/Buffer, Energy/Nucleotide System, Translation Mix (Amino Acids), Additives, and Backfill.