A new method for engineering living materials called 'MeniFluidics', made by researchers at the University of Warwick could see a transformation in tissue engineering and bio-art, as well as new ways to research cellular interactions.A bacterial biofilm patterned using MeniFluidics.

Living cells have many properties that non-living materials simply don't. The ability of controlling the emergent behaviours of cells and organising them into arbitrary patterns is a key step forward towards utilizing living materials, for uses such as organs on a chip. This is why new technologies are being developed to obtain such an ability.

Physicists and biologists at the University of Warwick have teamed up to develop a new method for controlling cellular patterns, published in the journal ACS Synthetic Biology, titled 'Pattern engineering of living bacterial colonies using meniscus-driven fluidic channels', their new technique is called MeniFluidics.

Grounded on the physics of meniscus generation, the researchers implemented structures into gel surfaces. Evaporation of water from gel materials lead to formation of open channels which can be used for guiding the direction and speed of cellular expansion.

Dr Vasily Kantsler, from Department of Physics at the University of Warwick comments; "I believe that our catchy named (Menifluidics) technique will enable new opportunities in biophysical and biomedical research and applications such as antibiotic resistance and biofouling"

Dr Munehiro Asally, from School of Life Science at the University of Warwick adds; "We hope MeniFluidics will be used widely by biophysics, microbiologists, engineers and also artists! As it is a simple and versatile method."

Engineered living materials (ELMs) is a new class of materials that exploit the properties of living organisms

+ While various techniques such as 3D printers have been utilized for developing ELMs, these techniques are typically limited for static patterns and suffer for technical complications

+ Researchers at the Departments of Physics and the School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick used fluidic channels to make patterns using bacterial cells

+ The method, named MeniFluidics, opens the door for further innovations and creation of arts, from ELMs, fundamental research into cellular interactions, to bio-art and tissue engineering

Research paper

Related Links
University Of Warwick
Space Technology News - Applications and Research

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The Space Media Network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceMediaNetwork Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceMediaNetwork Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Recycling plastics together, simple and fast
Matsumoto, Japan (SPX) Jun 03, 2020
Recycling plastic faces several challenges, one of which is recycling different types of plastics together, because they have varying properties, each of which need to be addressed accordingly. Separating and treating each type of plastic adds to the cost of recycling plastic, which reduces the incentive to do so, despite the irreversible and detrimental biological cost of plastics in the environment. Researchers Tingan LIN and Limin BAO of Shinshu University and their colleague examined the recyc ... read more