Post/Biotics
A new biology kit allowing anyone to get involved with the discovery of next-gen antibiotics
Post/Biotics is a citizen-science platform and toolkit providing the equipment, knowledge and science network people need to support researchers and pharmaceutical antibiotic development. It includes a pop-up lab and testing kit that allow students to discover substances with antimicrobial values by testing locally available plants, vegetables, fruits, fungi, mushrooms and soil. Post/Biotics distributes preliminary empirical research to schools through a global STEM educational platform. That platform is a vision of open-source drug discovery, and imagines what can happen when its design enables the tools of scientific innovation to reach out to the common people, supporting their learning, and adding to scientific knowledge through the power of the crowd. Mehta is currently working on the development of the Post/Biotics app and claims the kit could be the start of an open-sourced platform for antibiotic discovery.