Recently, the Chinese Pharmaceutical University, based in Nanjing, held its first "Min Shang Tian Hua" microbial art competition. With the aid of microbial experimental technologies, bacteria became ink on a petri dish canvas. The participants showed their creativity, creating extraordinary patterns on agar plates. These pieces of art were designed in advance, using Staphylococcus, Colibacillus, Bacillus cereus and other bacterial colonies as the pigment to draw patterns on nutrient-rich agar plates, then leaving them in a constant temperature incubator of 37 degrees Celsius. After three days, the bacterial colonies had grown into pre-designed patterns.（Photo/Jiang Chen）