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Investigation of how external parameters affect bacteria behaviour in hydrogel-based living materials
Living materials (LMs), as an emerging field that combines biology and material science, are materials composed of immobilized living organisms and a carrier matrix providing pre-determined bio-functionality. [1,2] LMs bring about new properties that are not easily realised by conventional materials, however, the complex mechanism of the cell-material-environment interaction remains difficult to fully comprehend.
Keywords: Living Materials, Microorganism, Hydrogel
Encapsulation of microorganisms enabled on-demand biomolecule synthesis and structuring the material with additive manufacturing (AM) has been used to further enhance the production of metabolites. [3] However, it remains unclear how the encapsulated living organisms are affected by the surrounding environment, and how their behaviour differs from their planktonic counterparts.
Encapsulation of microorganisms enabled on-demand biomolecule synthesis and structuring the material with additive manufacturing (AM) has been used to further enhance the production of metabolites. [3] However, it remains unclear how the encapsulated living organisms are affected by the surrounding environment, and how their behaviour differs from their planktonic counterparts.
The main goal of this project is to have a thorough understanding of how the bacteria growth inside the gel is affected by external parameters, such as the environmental pH, light exposure, scaffold geometry and gel diffusivity.
The project could be composed of the following tasks:
1. Design a reliable and reproducible system to quantify the bacteria growth within hydrogels.
2. Establish protocols for measuring the effects of external parameters on the bacterial colony.
3. Explore how the gel scaffold affects bacteria growth by designing reasonable structures.
References:
1. Liu, S., & Xu, W. (2020). Engineered living materials-based sensing and actuation. Frontiers in Sensors, 1, 586300.
2. Molinari, S., Tesoriero Jr, R. F., & Ajo-Franklin, C. M. (2021). Bottom-up approaches to engineered living materials: Challenges and future directions. Matter, 4(10), 3095-3120.
3. Johnston, T. G., Yuan, S. F., Wagner, J. M., Yi, X., Saha, A., Smith, P., ... & Alper, H. S. (2020). Compartmentalized microbes and co-cultures in hydrogels for on-demand bioproduction and preservation. Nature communications, 11(1), 1-11.
The main goal of this project is to have a thorough understanding of how the bacteria growth inside the gel is affected by external parameters, such as the environmental pH, light exposure, scaffold geometry and gel diffusivity.
The project could be composed of the following tasks:
1. Design a reliable and reproducible system to quantify the bacteria growth within hydrogels.
2. Establish protocols for measuring the effects of external parameters on the bacterial colony.
3. Explore how the gel scaffold affects bacteria growth by designing reasonable structures.
References:
1. Liu, S., & Xu, W. (2020). Engineered living materials-based sensing and actuation. Frontiers in Sensors, 1, 586300.
2. Molinari, S., Tesoriero Jr, R. F., & Ajo-Franklin, C. M. (2021). Bottom-up approaches to engineered living materials: Challenges and future directions. Matter, 4(10), 3095-3120.
3. Johnston, T. G., Yuan, S. F., Wagner, J. M., Yi, X., Saha, A., Smith, P., ... & Alper, H. S. (2020). Compartmentalized microbes and co-cultures in hydrogels for on-demand bioproduction and preservation. Nature communications, 11(1), 1-11.
Yifan Cui: cuiy@ethz.ch
Dalia Dranseikiene: ddranseik@ethz.ch
Prof. Mark Tibbitt: mtibbitt@ethz.ch