Until now we have simply sent all the images of each M. tuberculosis sample growing on each and every of the 14 antibiotics out to be classified by the citizen scientists. A while ago we realised that some images are “easy” in the sense that all the volunteers we show it to all give exactly the same answer. So, with a bit of work behind the scenes, we’ve written some computer code that can detect where the wells are in each image and then measure the amount of growth in each well. Now, it is isn’t perfect; it can be confused by small amounts of growth and artefacts like air bubbles and shadows, but it does mean we can confidently filter out the relatively easy images, thereby allowing us to only send the more challenging cases to you, our volunteers.
Author: Philip Fowler
Philip W Fowler is a computational biophysicist studying antimicrobial resistance working at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.
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August 2018 update
It has been a while since I updated everyone on how BashTheBug is going.
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OxfordSparks podcast
If you want to know about how BashTheBug is helping tackle tuberculosis and fits into the international CRyPTIC research project, listen to this podcast by OxfordSparks where you can hear interviews with Philip Fowler as well as the leading BashTheBug volunteer, ElisabethB.
Check out the work of my friend Lucy Turner who has created some textile designs based on various tuberculosis objects (if you look carefully you can see some based on the 96-well plates we classify).
This public event comprised three talks, each about 15-25 minutes long. Videos of each talk can be found on YouTube, links below.
BashTheBug has just got back from the recent European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases in Madrid, Spain. You can see some descriptive analysis of the first-dataset on this poster (free to access).
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Public Engagement Roundup April 2018
MMM Scientists have participated in a range of events, from science festivals and museum events, to art/science talks.
We attended the Oxford Brookes Science Festival and the Museum of Natural History Super Science Saturday, showcasing the award-winning crowdsourcing Bash The Bug project.
Bashing some bugs and learning about resistance mutations with duplo at the @ScienceBazaar with @BashTheBug @modmedmicro @Lucyrturner @NDMOxford @OxfordBRC pic.twitter.com/sEuaRUJNK0
ModMedMicro (@ModMedMicro) February 24, 2018
Read about when I went to the Oxford Brookes @ScienceBazaar with @Lucyrturner!https://t.co/duo0AXME2S@ModMedMicro @OxfordBRC pic.twitter.com/g1w7yGjaWO
Bash The Bug (@BashTheBug) March 5, 2018
It was just another #SuperScienceSaturday @morethanadodo ! pic.twitter.com/icp9aFvxIc
Carole Souter (@CaroleSouter) March 10, 2018
Bash The Bug goes from strength to strength
..and our 10,000th user has just helped us the effectiveness of different antibiotics on M.tuberculosis! @ModMedMicro @OxfordBRC
Bash The Bug (@BashTheBug) March 16, 2018
The ‘Bio Art and Bacteria’ Exhibition at the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford concluded this March, which showcased numerous artistic works created by Artist Anna Dumitriu with MMM Scientists.
35400+ visitors for “BioArt & Bacteria”, my solo exhibition @MHSOxford #Oxford. Exceeding original estimate by more than 10k, inc many new visitors. Demonstrating the public interest in #BioArt & the impact it has in engaging audiences in #art, #science, #technology & #ethics. pic.twitter.com/U7jgpyL9uB
Anna Dumitriu (@AnnaDumitriu) March 30, 2018
MMM Scientists contributed to a lecture series associated with the event
John Paul and @AnnaDumitriu talking about Anna’s great exhibition BioArt and Bacteria at https://t.co/mnd4BDsDzN at@MSHOxford. There is an artist tour with Anna on 10 Feb pic.twitter.com/HFNIEJospt
ModMedMicro (@ModMedMicro) January 26, 2018
Full house for a fascinating tour of #BioArt with @AnnaDumitriu at @MHSOxford this afternoon. Looking forward to hearing more about the #TB story at the talk by Dr Tim Walker on Thursday. pic.twitter.com/x6UaVl3LAs
Danielle Battigelli (@DBatti) February 10, 2018
Great event tonight @MHSOxford with me and @DrNJFawcett discussing our collaboration pic.twitter.com/SPFP08X3Jl
anna dumitriu (@AnnaDumitriu) March 1, 2018
We also assisted with a number of family events, aimed all age ranges with the world of bacteria and bio art!
Great #bioart and #bacteria activity day at the @MHSOxford with @annadumitriu @bigfug @DrNJFawcett artistically exploring bacteria and cutting-edge bacterial DNA sequencing pic.twitter.com/yEClTdddyc
ModMedMicro (@ModMedMicro) March 17, 2018
At the Science Museum, London, the Superbugs Exhibition continues, featuring bacterial agar plates created by Anna Dumitriu with MMM Scientists
See the #bacteria that we created for #Superbugs: The Fight for Our Lives opening today at The #Science Museum #London to engage the public about the issue of #AntibioticResistance @sciencemuseum @DaireCantillon @MartinLlewelyn @DrNJFawcett @GlobHealth_BSMS @ModMedMicro #bioart pic.twitter.com/9XjH3CxDzJ
anna dumitriu (@AnnaDumitriu) November 9, 2017
The ‘Antibiotic Resistance Quilt’, created by Dumitriu with MMM Scientists Kevin Cole and Nicola Fawcett has been displayed in the Science Museum, Dublin
BashTheBug was officially launched one year ago today. Since then 10,213 people from all over the world have classified 735,070 images of M. tuberculosis growth, which is one every 43 seconds all year.
You’ve finished three datasets; an initial validation set from seven clinical laboratories from four continents and then two further datasets from two different Asian countries with a high burden of TB. (Well, we are 1,206 classifications short of the 121,305 we need to finish the second country, but you will probably finish that sometime tomorrow!)
BashTheBug has won an award and several of you have spotted artefacts in the plates (see here and here) that we missed.
Here’s to our second year and our first results, which we will share with you soon.
Researchers from ModMedMicro showed BashTheBug to the public today at the Oxford Natural History Museum as part of Super Science Saturday. Thanks to Nick, Tree, Ali and others!
A week ago on Saturday, BashTheBug and Lucy Turner together ran a stall at the annual, extremely popular Oxford Brookes Science Bazaar.