Light-responsive microalgal living materials

Introduction

Nature fabricates materials with remarkable properties, having the ability to grow, move, and sense their environment. Such dynamic and interactive materials are in strong contrast with man-made synthetic materials. Recent scientific interest has emerged to incorporate living cells into materials to form living materials, using most often muscle cells or bacteria. While underexplored, microalgae-based living materials are highly promising due to the light-driven movement of microalgae. The aim of this ERC project is to develop the first microalgae-based photosynthetic living material with a dynamically light-controllable shape and with locally tuned (mechanical) properties.

Research Objectives

The fabrication of light-responsive microalgal living materials will be possible through novel fundamental knowledge that we will gain regarding the growth and motion of microalgae within a porous hydrogel.

Understanding Microalgae Behavior

Although this constrained environment mimics one of the microalgae's natural habitats (soil), we have limited understanding of the microalgae behavior within such an environment. We will first investigate:

1. How cells move within a porous environment.
2. How they respond to light, with the goal of using light for 3D patterning.

Material Reinforcement and Actuation

We will then explore:

1. How the hydrogel-based living material can be locally mechanically reinforced with cell-secreted polymers.
2. Finally, how to harness the microalgae light response as a means to create a soft actuator.

Team Expertise

My independent research team uniquely combines expertise in microalgae cell biophysics and in engineered living materials, and we are thus ideally positioned to take on the challenge of creating microalgae-based living materials dynamically controlled by light.

Potential Applications

This ERC project opens up a new class of materials with life-like functionalities such as shape change and light-sensing, which are likely to find wide applications, from soft robots to photosynthetic devices.