Growing the materials of the future with living organisms sounds like science fiction, but it’s already science fact, and in this episode you learn about the history of Engineered Living Materials, their strengths and weaknesses, where they need development, and the thoughts and passions of one of the leading experts in this burgeoning field! This is an episode you don’t want to miss.

About Peter (From Linkedin)

How can we leverage the incredible complex functionalities of biological systems and integrate them into smart materials? Could we integrate shelf-stable cell-free technology into everyday materials to create biological computing materials? Or perhaps harness the self-assembling and autonomous properties of living systems to turn them into smart micro-scale factories for producing advanced materials? Those are the questions I’m trying to answer in my current research. I’m interested in the fusion of synthetic biological and materials science approaches for engineering organic-nanomaterial systems —specifically, the reprogramming of cells into “molecular foundries” and the integration of freeze-dried cell-free systems into synthetic materials to enable novel biological smart materials.

■ In my postdoctoral work at Harvard University, I have conceived, designed, and fully developed a technology platform BIND (Biofilm-Integrated Nanofiber Display) that allows for the re-engineering of the bacterial bioflm extracellular material to have programmed artificial functions. These “Engineered Living Materials” establish living systems as biological self-replicating nanomaterials factories.

■ My other work as a Wyss Technology Development Fellow has centered on the development of freeze-dried cell-free technology to incorporate synthetic biology into various technologies and materials in a shelf-stable format. This “just-add-water” format allows complex biological circuits to be implemented in a portable, low-cost, and inexpensive manner.

■ My prior thesis work at Rice University centered on the design of synthetic protein switches that operated in hyperthermophilic organisms for detecting protein-protein interactions.

■ My other research interests include novel 3D printing materials, using biofilm-derived materials for architectural and textile technologies, phage display, synthetic cells, and developing amyloid therapeutics.

Links:

Biobits video

Tedtalk on on demand bio-manufacturing

Peter’s Website with research’

Wyss Institute

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