A rendering of SquidKid, complete with a bacteria-filled head and squeezable tentacle. Credit: Northeastern University

Children and bacteria—normally they’re a parental nightmare, a cocktail of late-night pediatrician calls and ruined weekends.

The idea of a toy filled with bacteria probably sounds like a recipe for disaster. This team of designers says otherwise.

Meet SquidKid, a prototype toy designed by Northeastern University students that is, essentially, an organic Tamagotchi. Children take care of the bioluminescent bacterial culture in this squid-shaped toy, keeping it alive and glowing. The hope for SquidKid, which earned a finalist spot in the international Biodesign Challenge, is to create not only a lasting friend but a lasting connection between children and the natural world.

“Our real goal was to create a bioreactor that would be ongoing, so you would keep a bacterial culture alive for an extended period of time like you would keep a fish tank or something,” says Deirdre Ni Chonaill, an experience design master’s student and associate director of creative and experience design at Northeastern’s Bouvé College of Health Sciences. “Kids don’t always treat their toys very well. With Tamagotchi, there are times where if you ignored it, it died. In this case, you’re actually killing something.”

Children must maintain the bacteria housed in SquidKid, providing oxygen, the right “broth,” or food, and consistent agitation. The toy is even designed with a squeezable tentacle that injects oxygen into the system and moves the bacteria, prompting them to glow.

Blending art, science, and hands-on learning

SquidKid began life in the classroom. The team of students designed it as part of their Critical Making for Adaptive Futures class taught by Katia Zolotovsky, an assistant professor of design and biotechnology.

“SquidKid, it’s not only microbiology,” Zolotovsky says. “It’s also teaching kids how to take care of the environment and then learn biology, mutualism and environmental interdependence.”

The class bridges the divide between the arts and sciences. Zolotovsky’s focus is how to leverage biotechnologies in playful yet impactful ways. In a single semester, her students learn about the basics of biotechnologies before getting their hands dirty and actually designing with biomaterials.

The tangible aspect of biomaterials helps even students who arrive with just a high school understanding of biology get by.

In Katia Zolotovsky’s class, student designers and biologists work together to design biotechnology projects that defy easy categorization. Credit: Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University

“When you work with materials, you immediately see results,” Zolotovsky says.

Her students have designed clothes made out of bioplastics, algae-based dining experiences, and menstrual cycle trackers made out of biomaterials. Then, there is SquidKid.

From classroom concept to competition finalist

Inspired by the Hawaiian bobtail squid and its symbiotic relationship with bioluminescent bacteria, one team of students set out to bring bioluminescence into the home.

“We just wanted to combine these spectacular bioluminescent materials with our daily life, more intimate [uses],” says Motong Shi, who graduated from Northeastern with an interaction and experience design degree in 2025.

However, as a team of four designers with mostly a high school level of biology knowledge, they had to quickly learn bacteria 101. Using Northeastern’s Wet Lab Makerspace, they conducted some disastrous early experiments.

“We went to look at an electron microscope,” says Ni Chonaill. “We wanted to see if our bacteria were alive and kicking, and we weren’t sure if they were contaminated E. coli.”

With the help of Ezri Abraham, a biology student they pulled in from another team in class, and an ecotoxicologist, they settled on a design that was compelling enough to get them a spot in the 2025 Biodesign Challenge in New York City.

Science and design came together in a toy designed by students that quickly grew out of control in the best way possible. Credit: Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University

Ni Chonaill and Shi were both shocked when they heard SquidKid was a finalist in the internationally-renowned design competition. Many of the other biodesign challengers had developed their ideas for much longer and with much more science or engineering expertise.

Despite their surprise, they never doubted the power of SquidKid. It might seem small, but it’s packed with big ideas and even bigger ambitions.

“What would it mean for a generation to grow up seeing bacteria as collaborators, not as threats, to recognize care as a form of intelligence and a skill, one that responds, adapts to and sustains life?” Ni Chonaill says. “We believe toys can spark that shift.”

Citation: What if your Tamagotchi was alive and glowing? This toy prototype is full of bacteria (2025, November 8) retrieved 8 November 2025 from https://phys.org/news/2025-11-tamagotchi-alive-toy-prototype-full.html

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