"Living ink"
New technology allows you to print 3D structures with live bacteria
Sergey Vasiliev, Naked Science
Scientists from Switzerland and Ireland have developed a new material for 3D printing - "live ink" containing bacterial cells. Such systems will make it possible to obtain new systems for cleaning pollution and generating energy, manufacturing pharmaceuticals and just clothes. Article Andre Studart and his colleagues from the Swiss Higher Technical School of Zurich (ETH Zürich) 3D printing of bacteria into functional complex materials publishes the journal Science Advances.
"Live ink" combines a matrix of polymer hydrogel, the liquid phase of which is filled with dissolved nutrients and bacterial cells. The porous structure provides water flow, allowing the viability of bacteria and their contact with the environment to be maintained. The developers demonstrated its use by printing on a 3D printer a structure seeded with cells of Pseudomonas putida - bacteria capable of utilizing phenol. By placing it in contaminated water, the scientists showed that after a few days the microbes completely cleaned the liquid.
Bacterial cells are held inside such a printed structure, and after working in one place in the future it can be transferred and used in another. But for now, scientists will have to scale the process and learn how to print large structures of "industrial" sizes.
Figure from an article in Science Advances – VM.
In the future, such printing systems with bacteria may be useful not only for cleaning dirt. They can be filled with microbes synthesizing useful substances and medicines, providing convenient and effective cultivation in bioreactors. The authors demonstrated this by showing how such bacteria in the printed structure form a complex network of "bacterial cellulose" of the right shape – this is a popular material for filling wounds, and the correct shape of the implant will be especially convenient for the patient.
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