Credits: Image: Lander photograph by David Fox, Zuber photograph by Bryce Vickmark
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President-elect Joseph Biden has selected two MIT faculty leaders Broad Institute Director Eric Lander and Vice President for Research Maria Zuber for top science and technology posts in his administration.
Lander has been named Presidential Science Advisor, a position he will assume soon after Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20. He has also been nominated as director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), a position that requires Senate confirmation.
Biden intends to elevate the Presidential Science Advisor, for the first time in history, to be a member of his Cabinet.
Engineers at MIT and Imperial College London have developed a new way to generate tough, functional materials using a mix of bacteria and yeast similar to the kombucha mother used to ferment tea. Using this mix, called a Syn-SCOBY (synthetic symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast), they produced cellulose embedded with enzymes that can perform a variety of functions, such as sensing environmental pollutants.
Date Time
Scientists create ‘living materials’ using kombucha-inspired microbial mixture
Imperial and MIT researchers have made smart materials by engineering microbes to detect and react to their environment.
The materials, known as engineered living materials (ELMs), could be used to detect and filter contaminants in water, in packaging to detect and alert to damage using fluorescence, and act as ‘living photographs’ which display pictures projected onto them.
Our new system moves us forward by creating materials that are scalable and therefore more likely to be useful in the real world Charlie Gilbert Department of Bioengineering
These ELMs are made by a mutually beneficial (symbiotic) combination of yeast and bacteria similar to those found in ‘kombucha mother’ – a mixture used to brew the fermented tea drink kombucha. It is also known as symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast (SCOBY).
Blue fluorescence caused by the engineered living materials (ELMs)
Imperial and MIT researchers have made smart living materials by engineering microbes to detect and react to their environment.
The materials, known as engineered living materials (ELMs), could be used to detect and filter contaminants in water, in packaging to detect and alert to damage using fluorescence, and act as ‘living photographs’ which display pictures projected onto them.
Our new system moves us forward by creating materials that are scalable and therefore more likely to be useful in the real world Charlie Gilbert Department of Bioengineering
These ELMs are made by a mutually beneficial (symbiotic) combination of yeast and bacteria similar to those found in ‘kombucha mother’ - a mixture used to brew the fermented tea drink kombucha. It is also known as symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast (SCOBY).