Dresden 2026 – scientific programme

Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Updates | Downloads | Help

BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 26: Biomaterials and Biopolymers (joint session BP/CPP)

BP 26.7: Invited Talk

Thursday, March 12, 2026, 11:15–11:45, BAR/SCHÖ

Directed evolution of material-producing bacteria — •André Studart — Complex Materials, Department of Materials, ETH Zürich

Engineers often use high temperatures, pressures and polluting chemicals to make synthetic materials. By contrast, biology produces remarkable materials like wood and bone using widely available chemicals in water and at ambient temperature. The ability of organisms to create materials under mild conditions relies on the intricate biological machinery of living cells. Notably, natural selection processes have evolved such machinery for hundreds of millions of years to fulfill the demands of biological environments. Can we harness the machinery and evolutionary processes of biology to create materials more sustainably while still meeting engineering needs ? To explore this question, we utilized a microfluidic platform to evolve material-forming microorganisms towards cell mutants that meet the high productivity needed in industrial processes. Using cellulose-producing bacteria as an example, we show that this directed evolution approach enabled the isolation of a bacterial mutant that produces up to 70% more cellulose than its native counterpart. The overproducing bacterial strain offers an attractive alternative to wood to meet the growing demand for cellulose in the textile, medical and packaging industries. Beyond cellulose, the proposed technology offers a compelling approach to isolate bacteria for the bio-fabrication of other sustainable materials, such as silk, polyesters and clay-based bricks.

Keywords: Directed Evolution; Microorganisms; Cellulose; Screening; Microfluidics