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About this conversation
A special issue examining microbial resistance, hidden biological labour, and more-than-human ethics in synthetic-biology and biodesign laboratories.
We thank Yuning Chen for sharing the research, the thinking behind the discovery, and the challenges and decisions that shaped the work with the Biolà community.
PAPERS & REFERENCES
This interdisciplinary special issue did not cite a single featured paper in the source brief.
EVENT MATERIALS
Bioneer 10 Special Issue | More-than-Human Revolt and Labour Provenance in a Synthetic Biology Lab
On May 10, 2025, at 3:00 PM Beijing Time, Biolà hosted another special issue of Bioneer, featuring Yuning Chen, a PhD candidate in Design Informatics at the University of Edinburgh. Working across science and technology studies (STS), synthetic biology, environmental humanities, and design, Chen examines more-than-human ethics in biodesign, with particular attention to labour justice, resistance, and the often-invisible roles of nonhuman organisms within scientific and technological systems.
Under the title “More-than-Human Revolt and Labour Provenance in a Synthetic Biology Lab,” Chen introduced two related projects that question conventional assumptions about organisms in laboratory environments. The first, Microbial Revolt, reimagines laboratory equipment not simply as technologies that put organisms to work, but as possible sites of resistance. By reconsidering contamination, failed growth, accidents, and other disruptions as forms of refusal rather than mere technical failure, the project asks how laboratory practice might be understood as a space of negotiation between human and more-than-human actors.
The second project, Labour Provenance, traces the extensive and often obscured network of organisms whose labour supports biotechnology research. Drawing on Chen’s laboratory residency, the project develops a framework for examining the structural roles of different organisms, their visibility or erasure within supply chains, and the ways in which biological labour is incorporated into systems of scientific and capitalist production. Together, the two projects invite a broader reconsideration of laboratory life, asking how resistance, dependency, and hidden labour might reshape ethical thinking in synthetic biology and biodesign.
Chen’s wider practice similarly moves between research and artistic experimentation, employing methods including theatre, speculative design, food design, and provenance research to investigate embodied power relations between humans and other organisms. Her work has been exhibited at venues and events including the London Design Festival, Dutch Design Week, and Edinburgh Science Festival, and has received international recognition, including finalist selections for Falling Walls Science Breakthrough of the Year and an S+T+ARTS Honorary Mention.
We sincerely thank Yuning Chen for bringing this critical and interdisciplinary perspective to the Biolà community and for encouraging discussion about how design, synthetic biology, and ethics can be reconsidered through the lens of more-than-human labour and resistance.