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Engineered Living Materials: Prospects and Challenges for Using Biological Systems to Direct the Assembly of Smart Materials
Author(s) -
Nguyen Peter Q.,
Courchesne NoémieManuelle Dorval,
DurajThatte Anna,
Praveschotinunt Pichet,
Joshi Neel S.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
advanced materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 10.707
H-Index - 527
eISSN - 1521-4095
pISSN - 0935-9648
DOI - 10.1002/adma.201704847
Subject(s) - nanotechnology , palette (painting) , synthetic biology , materials science , biomimetics , systems engineering , living systems , biochemical engineering , scale (ratio) , intersection (aeronautics) , computer science , engineering , biology , artificial intelligence , aerospace engineering , computational biology , physics , quantum mechanics , operating system
Vast potential exists for the development of novel, engineered platforms that manipulate biology for the production of programmed advanced materials. Such systems would possess the autonomous, adaptive, and self‐healing characteristics of living organisms, but would be engineered with the goal of assembling bulk materials with designer physicochemical or mechanical properties, across multiple length scales. Early efforts toward such engineered living materials (ELMs) are reviewed here, with an emphasis on engineered bacterial systems, living composite materials which integrate inorganic components, successful examples of large‐scale implementation, and production methods. In addition, a conceptual exploration of the fundamental criteria of ELM technology and its future challenges is presented. Cradled within the rich intersection of synthetic biology and self‐assembling materials, the development of ELM technologies allows the power of biology to be leveraged to grow complex structures and objects using a palette of bio‐nanomaterials.