Modulating Microbial\nMaterials - Engineering Bacterial\nCellulose with Synthetic Biology

The fusion of synthetic\nbiology and materials science offers exciting\nopportunities to produce sustainable materials that can perform programmed\nbiological functions such as sensing and responding or enhance material\nproperties through biological means. Bacterial cellulose (BC) is a\nunique material for this challenge due to its high-performance material\nproperties and ease of production from culturable microbes. Research\nin the past decade has focused on expanding the benefits and applications\nof BC through many approaches. Here, we explore how the current landscape\nof BC-based biomaterials is being shaped by progress in synthetic\nbiology. As well as discussing how it can aid production of more BC\nand BC with tailored material properties, we place special emphasis\non the potential of using BC for engineered living materials (ELMs);\nmaterials of a biological nature designed to carry out specific tasks.\nWe also explore the role of 3D bioprinting being used for BC-based\nELMs and highlight specific opportunities that this can bring. As\nsynthetic biology continues to advance, it will drive further innovation\nin BC-based materials and ELMs, enabling many new applications that\ncan help address problems in the modern world, in both biomedicine\nand many other application fields.