Living Materials: Expanding the Palette for Sustainable Innovations

Engineered Living Materials

A revolution in materials science is underway at the intersection of biology and engineering. Researchers at the University of California San Diego have unveiled a groundbreaking approach to creating engineered living materials (ELMs)—hybrids of synthetic polymers and living microbes—that promises to unlock a new generation of sustainable, adaptive materials.

Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, this innovative technique allows scientists to embed living microbes into polymers after the materials have been formed, vastly expanding the types of polymers that can be used to create ELMs.

What Are Engineered Living Materials?

ELMs combine the resilience and versatility of synthetic polymers with the dynamic properties of living organisms. These materials can sense and respond to their environment, heal themselves after damage, and even perform specialized tasks like cleaning pollutants or releasing oxygen into wounds.

Traditionally, researchers could only use biocompatible polymers to ensure cell survival during the hardening process. But this new method flips the script: it introduces photosynthetic cyanobacteria into the polymer after its formation. The polymer is designed to absorb water and swell, allowing the bacteria to diffuse in and embed themselves without damage.

A Game-Changer for Sustainability

Photosynthetic microbes like cyanobacteria bring a host of benefits to ELMs. Powered by sunlight, these microbes can produce specific chemicals, clean up environmental toxins, and contribute to self-sustaining systems. This makes them ideal candidates for developing sustainable materials that reduce our reliance on finite resources.

“By integrating photosynthetic organisms into materials science, we can harness the sun’s renewable energy to create valuable materials,” explains Professor Jinhye Bae, co-leader of the study. This innovation could transform industries ranging from environmental cleanup to biomedical engineering.

Shapeshifting Materials and Future Applications

One remarkable demonstration involved a temperature-responsive polymer that behaves like a sponge, expelling water at body temperature and reabsorbing it at room temperature. Embedded cyanobacteria not only remained active but also softened and reshaped the material over time. This discovery points toward future applications in smart materials that adapt to their surroundings.

The UC San Diego team continues to explore how cyanobacteria interact with various polymers, with the goal of developing ELMs that respond to multiple environmental cues—potentially paving the way for responsive biomedical scaffolds, self-healing materials, and environmentally friendly industrial systems.

Read the original article here: Living Materials Now Easier to Build with a Larger Palette of Ingredients.

References

UC San Diego MRSEC. (2025). “A responsive living material prepared by diffusion reveals extracellular enzyme activity of cyanobacteria.” PNAS.

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#EngineeredLivingMaterials #SustainableMaterials #Cyanobacteria #MaterialsScience #QuantumServerNetworks #Biomaterials #SmartMaterials #EnvironmentalInnovation

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