{"id":592,"date":"2024-01-26T16:41:12","date_gmt":"2024-01-26T16:41:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/fof2024\/?page_id=592"},"modified":"2024-01-26T16:41:12","modified_gmt":"2024-01-26T16:41:12","slug":"living-manufacture-principles-for-a-microbial-3d-printer","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/fof2024\/the-exhibition\/our-exhibitors\/living-manufacture-principles-for-a-microbial-3d-printer\/","title":{"rendered":"Living Manufacture: Principles for a microbial 3D printer\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Martyn Dade Robertson, Meng Zhang, Thora Arnardottir, Josh Loh, Katie Gilmour, Sunbin Lee<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:66.66%\">\n<p>The Living Manufacture project is a collaboration between architects and bio-scientists to build a new Engineered Living Fabrication (ELF) system. The project aims to develop a novel digital manufacturing approach by integrating biological growth and digital fabrication to make 3D functionally graded materials and objects. We see this work as the basis of a new fabrication technique combining wetware, hardware and software with potential applications in various areas, including biomedical applications, complex composites for high-performance manufacturing and novel consumer products.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The wetware aspect involves exploring biological modifiers such as engineered optogenetic\u202f<em>E. coli<\/em>\u202fthat produce pigment from exposure to light. The ELF platform utilises hardware to optimise bacterial cellulose (BC) pellicle growth through a custom-made fermenter design and automated nutrient feeding that can yield over 8 cm of homogenous pellicle material. It uses an open-source liquid handling robot with simulation software to model inputs, biofilm formation, and growth dynamics that aims to enable precise chemical stimuli delivery and real-time pellicle height monitoring as the material grows.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By combining these three elements &#8211; wetware, hardware, and software, the project creates an innovative approach to modify the BC growth and material properties without the need for post-processing.\u202f&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:33.33%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"694\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/fof2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Microbial-3D-printer-2-1024x694.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-593\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/fof2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Microbial-3D-printer-2-1024x694.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/fof2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Microbial-3D-printer-2-500x339.png 500w, https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/fof2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Microbial-3D-printer-2-768x520.png 768w, https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/fof2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Microbial-3D-printer-2-1536x1041.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/fof2024\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Microbial-3D-printer-2-2048x1387.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Institutions:<\/strong> Northumbria University &amp; Newcastle University\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Funding:<\/strong> \u202fEPSRC Manufacturing the Future (Grant Number: EP\/V050710\/1) as well as supported by HBBE\u2019s Research England\u2019s\u202fExpanding Excellence in England (E3) Fund.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Martyn Dade Robertson, Meng Zhang, Thora Arnardottir, Josh Loh, Katie Gilmour, Sunbin Lee The Living Manufacture project is a collaboration between architects and bio-scientists to build a new Engineered Living Fabrication (ELF) system. The project aims to develop a novel digital manufacturing approach by integrating biological growth and digital fabrication [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"parent":145,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-592","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/fof2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/fof2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/fof2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/fof2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/fof2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=592"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/fof2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":783,"href":"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/fof2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/592\/revisions\/783"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/fof2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/fof2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}