Engineered living materials (ELMs) are a novel class of functional materials that typically feature spatial confinement of living components within an inert polymer matrix to recreate biological functions. Understanding the growth and spatial configuration of cellular populations within a matrix is crucial to predicting and improving their responsive potential and functionality. Here, this work investigates the growth, spatial distribution, and photosynthetic productivity of eukaryotic microalga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (C. reinhardtii) in three-dimensionally shaped hydrogels in dependence of geometry and size. The embedded C. reinhardtii cells photosynthesize and form confined cell clusters, which grow faster when located close to the ELM periphery due to favorable gas exchange and light conditions. Taking advantage of location-specific growth patterns, this work successfully designs and prints photosynthetic ELMs with increased CO₂ capturing rate, featuring high surface to volume ratio. This strategy to control cell growth for higher productivity of ELMs resembles the already established adaptations found in multicellular plant leaves.

Living materials, which are fabricated by encapsulating living biological cells within a non-living matrix, have gained increasing attention in recent years. Their fabrication in spatially defined patterns that are mechanically robust is essential for their optimal functional performance but is difficult to achieve. Here, a bioprinting technique employing environmentally friendly chemistry to encapsulate microalgae within an alginate hydrogel matrix is reported. The bioprinted photosynthetic structures adopt pre-designed geometries at millimeter-scale resolution. A bacterial cellulose substrate confers exceptional advantages to this living material, including strength, toughness, flexibility, robustness, and retention of physical integrity against extreme physical distortions. The bioprinted materials possess sufficient mechanical strength to be self-standing, and can be detached and reattached onto different surfaces. Bioprinted materials can survive stably for a period of at least 3 days without nutrients, and their life can be further extended by transferring them to a fresh source of nutrients within this timeframe. These bioprints are regenerative, that is, they can be reused and expanded to print additional living materials. The fabrication of the bioprinted living materials can be readily up-scaled (up to ≥70 cm × 20 cm), highlighting their potential product applications including artificial leaves, photosynthetic bio-garments, and adhesive labels.

Biofilms are three-dimensional (3D) bacterial communities that exhibit a highly self-organized nature in terms of their composition and complex architecture. Bacteria in biofilms display emergent biological properties, such as resistance to antimicrobials and disinfectants that the individual planktonic cells lack. Bacterial biofilms possess specialized architectural features including unique extracellular matrix compositions and a distinct spatially patterned arrangement of cells and matrix components within the biofilm. It is unclear which of these architectural elements of bacterial biofilms lead to the development of their emergent biological properties. Here, we report a 3D printing-based technique for studying the emergent resistance behaviors of Escherichia coli biofilms as a function of their architecture. Cellulose and curli are the major extracellular-matrix components in E. coli biofilms. We show that 3D-printed biofilms expressing either curli alone or both curli and cellulose in their extracellular matrices show higher resistance to exposure against disinfectants than 3D prints expressing either cellulose alone or no biofilm-matrix components. The 3D-printed biofilms expressing cellulose and/or curli also show thicker anaerobic zones than nonbiofilm-forming E. coli 3D prints. Thus, the matrix composition plays a crucial role in the emergent spatial patterning and biological endurance of 3D-printed biofilms. In contrast, initial spatial distribution of bacterial density or curli-producing cells does not have an effect on biofilm resistance phenotypes. Further, these 3D-printed biofilms could be reversibly attached to different surfaces (bacterial cellulose, glass, and polystyrene) and display resistance to physical distortions by retaining their shape and structure. This physical robustness highlights their potential in applications including bioremediation, protective coatings against pathogens on medical devices, or wastewater treatment, among many others. This new understanding of the emergent behavior of bacterial biofilms could aid in the development of novel engineered living materials using synthetic biology and materials science approaches.

Sustainable structural materials with excellent impact-resistance properties are urgently needed but challenging to produce, especially in a scalable fashion and with control over 3D shape. Here, we show that bacterial cellulose (BC) and bacterially precipitated calcium carbonate self-assemble into a layered structure reminiscent of tough biomineralized materials in nature (nacre, bone, dentin). The fabrication method consists of biomineralizing BC to form an organic/inorganic mixed slurry, in which calcium carbonate crystal size is controlled with bacterial poly(γ-glutamic acid) and magnesium ions. This slurry self-assembles into a layered material that combines high toughness and high impact and fire resistance. The rapid fabrication is readily scalable, without involving toxic chemicals. Notably, the biomineralized BC can be repeatedly recycled and molded into any desired 3D shape and size using a simple kitchen blender and sieve. This fully biodegradable composite is well suited for use as a component in daily life, including furniture, helmets, and protective garments.

Natural materials, such as nacre and silk, exhibit both high strength and toughness due to their hierarchical structures highly organized at the nano-, micro-, and macroscales. Bacterial cellulose (BC) presents a hierarchical fibril structure at the nanoscale. At the microscale, however, BC nanofibers are distributed randomly. Here, BC self-Assembles into a highly organized spiral honeycomb microstructure giving rise to a high tensile strength (315 MPa) and a high toughness value (17.8 MJ m-3), with pull-out and de-spiral morphologies observed during failure. Both experiments and finite-element simulations indicate improved mechanical properties resulting from the honeycomb structure. The mild fabrication process consists of an in situ fermentation step utilizing poly(vinyl alcohol), followed by a post-Treatment including freezing-Thawing and boiling. This simple self-Assembly production process is highly scalable, does not require any toxic chemicals, and enables the fabrication of light, strong, and tough hierarchical composite materials with tunable shape and size.

Bacterial biofilms are three-dimensional networks of cells entangled in a self-generated extracellular polymeric matrix composed of proteins, lipids, polysaccharides, and nucleic acids. Biofilms can establish themselves on virtually any accessible surface and lead to varying impacts ranging from infectious diseases to degradation of toxic chemicals. Biofilms exhibit high mechanical stiffness and are inherently tolerant to adverse conditions including the presence of antibiotics, pollutants, detergents, high temperature, changes in pH, etc. These features make biofilms resilient, which is beneficial for applications in dynamic environments such as bioleaching, bioremediation, materials production, and wastewater purification. We have recently described an easy and cost-effective method for 3D printing of bacteria and have extended this technology for 3D printing of genetically engineered Escherichia coli biofilms. Our 3D printing platform exploits simple alginate chemistry for printing of a bacteria-alginate bioink mixture onto calcium-containing agar surfaces, resulting in the formation of bacteria-encapsulating hydrogels with varying geometries. Bacteria in these hydrogels remain intact, spatially patterned, and viable for several days. Printing of engineered bacteria to produce inducible biofilms leads to formation of multilayered three-dimensional structures that can tolerate harsh chemical treatments. Synthetic biology and material science approaches provide the opportunity to append a wide range of useful functionalities to these 3D-printed biofilms. In this article, we describe the wide range of future applications possible for applying functional 3D-printed biofilms to the construction of living biofilm-derived materials in a large-scale and environmentally stable manner.