Science

I'm a microbiologist and immunologist with a love for helping others understand the microscopic world around them. The portion of the research paper quoted below highlights why big business should be quite interested, as they can increase their profits. This is because not only can it be grown from "waste" products, but it's also super resilient. The biofilms it's evolved to mimic can only be treated via excision when they form in the human body today. But there are current studies going on right now using gold coated in a specific sugar which biofilms have an affinity for, and then a laser is used to excite the gold particle resulting in heat and movement, ultimately destroying the biofilm 🤯.

"In carbon-rich media, these bacteria polymerize and secrete linear chains of glucose. These chains then self-assemble into a dense interconnected mesh of cellulose fibers. This cellulose mesh, called a pellicle, floats at the air–water interface and envelops and protects the growing cells, like a biofilm. Key to the industrial interest in bacterial cellulose (BC), it can be grown quickly, cheaply and sustainably—a BC pellicle can be grown in 7–14 days, in high yields (>10 g/L) and from waste feedstocks, such as rotten fruit juice, glycerol, and molasses. Additionally, BC has advanced material properties such as high tensile strength, high water-holding capacity and high purity. These features have led to interest in using BC in high-end acoustic devices, as a battery separator membrane, and in wound healing. The ease of growing BC has also led to BC becoming an attractive prototype biomaterial for some in design and fashion who seek to speculate on methods of sustainable textile production...We decided to engineer the biosynthesis of the dark melanin pigment, eumelanin, into K. rhaeticus [a specific bacterial species]. Eumelanin, a ubiquitous pigment found across biological kingdoms, is stable in high heat and over long time spans. Crucially, eumelanin has low water solubility, a property shared by many common dyes, such as indigo, that contributes to the color fastness of a pigment. Additionally, eumelanin also offers several other interesting properties, such as electrical conductivity, broadband light, and UV absorption and protection from ionizing radiation."

Edit: Here's a link to the paper if you're curious as well https://link.springer.com/article/10.1038/s41587-024-02194-3