BeerDecoded

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BeerDeCoded is a quest to sequence the DNA inside 1,000 beers from the world. The project is led by Hackuarium member Gianpaolo Rando.

Overall goal

BeerDeCoded is a research project to draw a genetic map of beers. The public contributes to every step of this project: from securing funding to doing the experiment, from testing (and tasting) the samples to publishing the results. BeerDeCoded is doing-research-together, on the streets, in the bars and in an open laboratory. BeerDeCoded is a funny iteration of the Open Food DNA project.

Social Media

Beer DNA?

Beer is a living beverage. The DNA comes from its ingredients (hops, grains, yeast). There are 1,000+ yeast varieties used for brewing and 200+ hops species, each one bearing a different DNA. Artisanal beer (craft beer) is trendy: microbreweries produce a large variety of beers, each one with its unique recipe and taste. It seems impossible to taste them all, so we are making a "tree of beers" based on their biochemical composition.

So What now?

We received the Kickstarter payment and we are actively working on beer DNA extractions, sequencing and bioinformatics.

Want to help us? Drop us a note or join an #OpenHackuarium.

Events

Sometimes we organise BeerDeCoded workshops at Hackuarium. We also load a miniaturized laboratory on a cargo-bike and bring beer DNA sequencing to public events.

If you want BeerDeCoded at your event, please contact gianpaolo.rando@swissdecode.ch

How we finance the project?

At LIFT15 conference in Geneva, we discussed the project during a science crowdfunding workshop. We then joined the first Science x Kickstarter hackathon in New York (Feb 28, 2015) to craft a crowd-funding campaign for a pilot beer DNA experiment. We have been successfully funded 20 days after the launch on June 2015. After that, we attracted some sponsorship from local partners. Today BeerDeCoded runs on a voluntary basis.

Budget

We have funding for sequencing 96 beers. Rough project costs:

  • 500 CHF - Beer collection
  • 1000 CHF - DNA purification (we extract DNA out of the beer)
  • 5500 CHF - DNA amplification and multiplexing (we amplifiy the DNA, we label it with a ID code and we pool the labeled samples inside a sequencer)
  • 3000 CHF - DNA sequencing.

Other steps (manpower, bioinformatic analyses, data visualisation and communication) are done on a voluntary basis.