Using Synthetic Biology to Engineer Living Cells That Interface with Programmable Materials

Heyde, Keith C.; Scott, Felicia Y.; Paek, Sanghyun; Zhang, Ruihua; Ruder, Warren C.

doi:10.3791/55300

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…The widespread development of synthetic biology in combination with computational system biology and gene sequence platforms (Tang et al ., 2021) have provided advanced techniques, new methods and sophisticated tools for genetically engineering living cells and other biological systems in order to produce novel and useful materials with new and programmable properties. Indeed, synthetic biology has become one of the most important drivers for the design and development of ELMs (Heyde et al ., 2017; Nguyen et al ., 2018; Liu and Xu, 2020).…”

Section: Towards Engineered Living Materials: Bringing Bacterial Biop...mentioning

confidence: 99%

When microbial biotechnology meets material engineering

Hernández‐Arriaga

Campano

Rivero-Buceta

et al. 2021

Microbial Biotechnology

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Bacterial biopolymers such as bacterial cellulose (BC), alginate or polyhydroxyalkanotes (PHAs) have aroused the interest of researchers in many fields, for instance biomedicine and packaging, due to their being biodegradable, biocompatible and renewable. Their properties can easily be tuned by means of microbial biotechnology strategies combined with materials science. This provides them with highly diverse properties, conferring them non-native features. Herein we highlight the enormous structural diversity of these macromolecules, how are they produced, as well as their wide range of potential applications in our daily lives. The emergence of new technologies, such as synthetic biology, enables the creation of next-generation-advanced materials presenting smart functional properties, for example the ability to sense and respond to stimuli as well as the capacity for self-repair. All this has given rise to the recent emergence of biohybrid materials, in which a synthetic component is brought to life with living organisms. Two different subfields have recently garnered particular attention: hybrid living materials (HLMs), such as encapsulation or bioprinting, and engineered living materials (ELMs), in which the material is created bottom-up with the use of microbial biotechnology tools. Early studies showed the strong potential of alginate and PHAs as HLMs, whilst BC constituted the most currently promising material for the creation of ELMs.

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Section: Towards Engineered Living Materials: Bringing Bacterial Biop...mentioning

confidence: 99%

When microbial biotechnology meets material engineering

Hernández‐Arriaga

Campano

Rivero-Buceta

et al. 2021

Microbial Biotechnology

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“…To realize this long-term objective, in recent years, the concept of engineered living materials (ELMs) has drawn significant attention (Nguyen et al, 2018;Guo et al, 2020). ELMs are an emerging class of materials that combine living biological entities with functional soft materials (Chen et al, 2015;Heyde et al, 2017;Ruan et al, 2020). The incorporation of biological cells or tissues provides the materials with biosensing, self-regenerative, and molecular computing capabilities (Huang et al, 2019;Pu et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Engineered Living Materials-Based Sensing and Actuation

Liu

2020

Front. Sens.

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The integration of functional synthetic materials and living biological entities has emerged as a new and powerful approach to create adaptive and functional structures with unprecedented performance and functionalities. Such hybrid structures are also called engineered living materials (ELMs). ELMs have the potential to realize many highly-desired properties, which are usually only found in biological systems, such as the abilities to self-power, self-heal, response to biosignals, and self-sustainable. Motivated by that, in recent years, researchers have started to explore the use of ELMs in many areas, among them, sensing and actuation is the area that has seen the most progress. In this short review, we briefly reviewed the important recent development in ELMs-based sensors and actuators, with a focus on their materials and structural design, new fabrication technologies, and bio-related applications. Current challenges and future directions in this field are also identified to help with future development in this emerging interdisciplinary field.

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Programming Biomaterial Interactions Using Engineered Living Cells

Heyde

Ruder

2018

Synthetic Biology

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We have developed a biomaterials interface that allows the properties of a functionalized surface to be controlled by a population of genetically engineered bacteria. This interface was engineered by linking a genetically modified E. coli strain with a chemically functionalized surface. Critically, the E. coli was engineered to upregulate the production of biotin when induced by a small signaling molecule. This biotin would then interact with the functionalized surface to modulate the surface's binding dynamics. In this chapter, we detail three protocols: one protocol for developing a population of biotin-producing genetically engineered cells, and two protocols for creating different types of functionalized surfaces. These methods will enable scientists to readily explore strategies for controlling surface-based material assembly and modification using a linked culture of engineered cells.

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Using Synthetic Biology to Engineer Living Cells That Interface with Programmable Materials

Cited by 3 publications

References 16 publications

When microbial biotechnology meets material engineering

When microbial biotechnology meets material engineering

Engineered Living Materials-Based Sensing and Actuation

Programming Biomaterial Interactions Using Engineered Living Cells

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