Light-diffractive patterning of Porphyridium purpureum

Abstract

Living structures: By projection of a light pattern from a computer-generated hologram, patterns of the algae Porphyridium purpureum were generated. The obtained pixelated pattern was evaluated and discussed in the context of the organism's phototaxis.

Grow with the flow – observing the formation of rheotactically patterned bacterial cellulose networks

“…The growth into a certain culture medium as an internal stimulus, 10 as well as the directed growth after external stimuli, e.g. light, [11][12][13] mechanical influences [14][15][16][17] and a variety of other attractants, [18][19][20] can serve to create a biological, hierarchically structured template to be used for different purposes than intended by nature. The advantage of this approach is that biological materials are typically already hierarchically structured, starting at the molecular level: Biofilms, for example, are microorganisms embedded in their extracellular polymeric matrix (EPS).…”