Mironov: Living Removable Tattoo as a BioArt?

From: Vladimir Mironov
Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2007 10:26:55 -0500

Dear all,
One of very popular contemporal form of BioArt is tatoo.See for example: <http://tattooartists.org/>In former Soviet Union only criminals have tattoo.Now many Hollywood Stars have tattoo and tattoo is very popular form of body art in young generation. There are several journal specially devoted only to Tatto art. Thus, we like it or not tattoo is an integral part of modern art.
Tatto as any fashion is temporal event and with time when fashion will change and when people will became older some of them will decide to remove tattoo and it can create problem.

One of unexpected application of modern genetic revolution is technological possibility to create removable tattoo using conditionally induced pro-apoptotic genes. Apoptosis is a programmed cell death. So if we will create library of living cell aggregates which expressed different color fluorescent or non-fluorescent colored proteins and if these cells will also expressed conditionally induced pro-apoptotic genes then tattoo can be very easily removed just by consumption of tablet of antibiotic - tetracyclin which will induce cell death in this specially genetically designed colored cells.

There are several advantages of this new living removable tattoo making technology:
1) people can re-use their body surface for tattoo body art
2) if people do not like their tattoo (for whatever reason) they can be removed without any surgical manipulation just by consumption tablet of antibiotic which will induced pro-apoptotic genes.
3) it is possible also to create invisible tattoo which could seen only by using special form of lighth

Sometimes new technology create unusual originally unexpected applications. By the way, modern tatoo machine was invented by Thomas Alva Edisson in order to make paper copy of text by using pinching. See images of modified Edisson tattoo making machines on Wikipedia -
"Tattoo machine"

<http://www.tattooarchive.com/history_images/tattoo_machine_oreilly3_wm.jpg>
<http://www.patentlessons.com/modern%20tattoo%20machine.jpg>
<http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Business/DragonButterfly/MachineNeedle.jpg>
<http://www.spaulding-rogers.com/store/graphics/00000001/TAT-4G.jpg>

My questions are:
- Are there any social demand for such type of tattoo?
- Can living removable tattoo be considered as modern living BioArt?
- Is living removable tattoo socially acceptable and socially responsible practical application of genetic revolution? I will appreciate any coments or suggestions.

Vladimir Mironov

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