Engineered Living Materials (ELM) are an exciting new class of matter, where the global aim is to create functional, tough, hierarchically ordered materials, by leveraging the biologically activity of living cells. In nature, examples of these high-performance inorganic-organic composite biomaterials are widespread, ranging from nacre (mother of pearl) to the frustules of diatoms. However, a major challenge is using engineered microorganisms in the lab to generate highly ordered macroscale structures from microscale units. Accordingly, the focus of this project is on the rational design and characterization of hierarchically ordered composite living materials. In doing so, the successful candidate will engineer bacteria and yeast to produce biopolymer fibres and enzymes in 3D printed structures and microfluidic devices, enabling controllable formation of hierarchically ordered tough biomaterials with emergent functions, such as mechanoresponsive remodelling and self-healing.

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Hierarchically ordered engineered living materials: Using engineered biopolymer-producing microorganisms and 3D printing techniques, hierarchically ordered tough biomaterials can be fabricated.