Abstract Scope |
Engineered living materials (ELMs) are an emerging class of materials that combine living biological entities especially bacteria with functional soft materials. The incorporation of living bacteria provides the materials with biosensing, self-regenerative, and molecular computing capabilities. Recently, ELMs have also been used for direct ink writing-based 3D printing, which enables the fabrication of dynamic and active 3D structures for various applications. In this talk, I will discuss our recent progress on 3D printing with functional bacteria embedded in a supporting hydrogel matrix for advanced biofabrication. The bacteria can be genetically engineered to have specific functions, such as generating bacterial cellulose or reacting to external stimuli. We have demonstrated that 3D cellulose structures can be generated by in situ biosynthesis in the 3D printed template, which provides an efficient and versatile approach for tissue engineering using 3D nanoporous cellulose. |