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SHORT BIO (225 words)
Karen Ingram is an Interdisciplinary artist and researcher whose work traverses bioart, biodesign and biotechnology. Ingram creates floral paintings made with genetically modified yeast and bacteria to interrogate agency and autonomy. She has adapted COVID testing robots to explore multi-entity collaborations between human, robot, and microbe.  Companion workshops engage audiences with biology, art, and technology in an accessible and approachable way that inspires wonder and curiosity.

Her artworks and installations have been exhibited at BioBAT Art Space, London Design Week, Times Square, and Plexus Projects. Her work has been covered in Nature Biotechnology, University of Cambridge, and Art Spiel. She was an Emerging Tech fellow at Stanford's d.school, where she developed synthetic biology teaching tools, and was an instructor at Genspace, Brooklyn's community biotech lab. Ingram is a NYFA Queens New Work Grant recipient and BioBAT Art Space studio resident. Ingram is co-author of "BioBuilder: Synthetic Biology in the Lab" published by O'Reilly. She has spoken widely at venues including at the SXSW, Biodesign Challenge Symposium, MIT, Pratt Institute, and Maryland Institute College of Art. She has taught at SVA's Interaction Design MFA Program, Downey School District, NYU SHERP, and RISE Rockaway's Shore Corps, focusing on biodesign, ethics, and emerging technology. Ingram has taught participatory workshops at SVA, Indie Bio, and Google. In 2025, Ingram founded the BioArt Research Center (BARC) at Makerspace Charlotte.

FULL BIO (549 words)
Karen Ingram is an Interdisciplinary artist and researcher whose work traverses bioart, biodesign and biotechnology. Ingram creates floral paintings made with genetically modified yeast and bacteria to interrogate agency and autonomy. She has adapted COVID testing robots to explore multi-entity collaborations between human, robot, and microbe.

Her artworks and installations have been exhibited at BioBAT Art Space, London Design Week, Times Square, and Plexus Projects. Her work has been covered in Nature Biotechnology, University of Cambridge, and Art Spiel. Ingram is a NYFA Queens New Work Grant recipient and BioBAT Art Space studio resident. She has spoken widely at venues including at the SXSW, Biodesign Challenge Symposium, MIT, Pratt Institute, and Maryland Institute College of Art. Her public art commissions include installations for NYC Parks Department at Rockaway Beach and work for the Alliance for Downtown New York. In 2025, Ingram founded the BioArt Research Center (BARC) at Makerspace Charlotte.

As an interdisciplinary artist, she has collaborated with scientists globally and integrated their research—from NYU, the Earlham Institute in Norwich, Stony Brook University, and Bielefeld University in Germany—into her artistic investigations. She is also a member of Biotech Without Borders in New York.

Her essays and commissioned pieces appear in EdSurge, Stanford d.school publications, Cambridge University Press, and O’Reilly’s BioCoder. She served as lead learning designer for the d.school’s Rep: Gene Editing and contributed to Rep: Build a Bot. She also writes Biogenetic Blooms, a Substack exploring the convergence of art, science, and emerging technologies, and was co-editor of Faesthetic #15’s “Convergent Visions” for the SXSW Art Program. Ingram co-authored "BioBuilder: Synthetic Biology in the Lab" published by O'Reilly, published in multiple languages, with her graphics carried across all editions.

As a consultant and advisor, Ingram has supported organizations including the Philadelphia Water Department on design, strategy, and operations; Sunflower Therapeutics and Opentrons Labworks on branding; and Triton Bio on technology testing. She served as an affiliate of Bio.Polis at Stanford University, a group examining the questions around sustainable futures and biotechnology. She was a charter member of the Water Safety Coalition at Rockaway Beach and a volunteer with the Surfrider NYC Chapter’s Blue Water Task Force.

As a curator, she has organized diverse programming that bridges art, science, and public engagement. She curated the Empiricist League speaker series in Brooklyn featuring presenters including Christian Rudder and Maria Konnikova, co-curated BioHack the Planet in Oakland, and served on the SXSW Planning Committee for judging and content programming. She has produced events including "Fallacy Bingo" at the Ace Hotel with Gizmodo and assisted with the first bioart exhibition in Brooklyn, Cut/Paste/Grow in 2013.

As an educator, Ingram engages audiences with biology, art, and technology in an accessible and approachable way that inspires wonder and curiosity. She developed and facilitated the "Synbio for Creatives" at Genspace, Brooklyn's community biotech lab. Her participatory workshops—focusing on microbial painting,  critical thinking and communication—have been facilitated at MIT, Stanford d.school, Google, Indie Bio, the Berggruen Institute, and numerous educational institutions. These hands-on experiences invite diverse audiences to explore synthetic biology, bioart, and tech ethics. She has taught at SVA's Interaction Design MFA Program, Downey School District, NYU SHERP, and RISE Rockaway's Shore Corps, focusing on biodesign, ethics, and emerging technology.