MIT researchers design hybrid materials by combining living bacterial cells with nonliving elements such as gold nanoparticles and quantum dots. These “living materials” could potentially combine the advantages of living cells (responses to the environment and production of complex biological molecules) with the benefits of nonliving materials, such as conducting electricity or emitting light. The new materials could be used to design more complex devices such as solar cells, self-healing materials, or diagnostic sensors.
Using the biofilm-producing bacterium E. coli, modified fibers are produced that capture nonliving gold nanoparticles in the biofilms. By programming cells to produce different types of fibers, researchers were able to control the biofilms’ properties and create gold nanowires, conducting biofilms, and films studded with quantum dots (tiny crystals that exhibit quantum mechanical properties). They were also able to engineer cells that can could communicate with each other and change the composition of their biofilms over time.
Read the full MIT News article HERE.
Read the full Nature Materials journal article HERE.
Nature Materials 13, 515–523 (2014) doi:10.1038/nmat3912
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