Tangerine Dream: how German electronica is helping genetic science at The Francis Crick Institute

German electronica, eyelashes stuck on cocktail sticks and 1.5 million fruit flies are the secret weapons of one of Britain’s largest scientific centre, it has emerged.

The Francis Crick Institute in London is at the cutting edge of research into cancer, Alzheimer’s and genetic engineering.

Now ‘The Crick’ is flinging open its doors to disclose the unusual goings-on of its technicians for a new exhibition into the unseen side of science.

Down in the Fly Facility, supervisor Joachim Kurt has the job of injecting altered DNA into the tiny embryos of thousands of insects.

The secret of his steady hand is Tangerine Dream, the 1960s new age electric band, which, after several trials listening to different genres, Kurt’s lab has determined is the most effective for focussing the mind while engaged in meticulous genetic tinkering.

The technicians feed and breed 1.5 million fruit flies every year, from 15,000 different families, inserting and removing DNA to work out what is happening in the genetic code, and how it might help them understand human disease.

Elsewhere, specialists in the microscopy department have worked out a new method of manipulating ultra-thin biological samples which must be arranged on the surface of a water droplet before they can be studied. The samples are so delicate the team use a single eyelash glued to a cocktail stick to gently poke them into position.

Technicians at The Crick also ‘care’ for billions of cancer cells, keeping them alive and healthy so they can be used in experiments which could one day lead to cures.

Annd more than 750,000 flasks, test-tubes and beakers must be cleaned each year by the world’s best bottle washers. Even a microscopic bit of dirt could skew and experiment.

Sir Paul Nurse, Director of The Francis Crick Institute, said: “I began my scientific life as a 17-year-old laboratory technician so I really understand what they contribute to research.

“Engineers, technicians and other research specialists make up a significant part of our workforce and without them the science we do here would be impossible.”

Exhibition curator, Emily Scott-Dearing added: “The scale and pace of operation here can simply take your breath away. They are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible, such as building new microscopes if non exist that will do the job, but equally the innovation can be very low tech. The microscopicts will glue one of their own eyelashes on to the end of a cocktail stick delicate enough to maneuver biological samples.

“The Fly Facility staff have experimented with which musical soundtrack they should listen to, to best get them in the zone to achieve high success rates that will allow them to do the very fiddly work.

“These individuals rarely play the leading roles but with this ensemble case there would be no science here at all.”

Craft & Graft: Making Science Happen opens on March 1 2019 until November 30.