6 RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. Kombucha tea, a trendy fermented beverage, inspired researchers to develop a new way to generate tough, functional materials using a mixture of bacteria and yeast similar to the kombucha mother used to ferment tea.
With Army funding, using this mixture, also called a SCOBY, or symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast, engineers at MIT and Imperial College London produced cellulose embedded with enzymes that can perform a variety of functions, such as sensing environmental pollutants and self-healing materials.
The team also showed that they could incorporate yeast directly into the cellulose, creating living materials that could be used to purify water for Soldiers in the field or make smart packaging materials that can detect damage.
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IMAGE: With Army funding, researchers developed a new way to generate tough, functional materials using a mixture of bacteria and yeast similar to the kombucha mother used to ferment tea. view more
Credit: Tzu-Chieh (Zijay) Tang, MIT
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. Kombucha tea, a trendy fermented beverage, inspired researchers to develop a new way to generate tough, functional materials using a mixture of bacteria and yeast similar to the kombucha mother used to ferment tea.
With Army funding, using this mixture, also called a SCOBY, or symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast, engineers at MIT and Imperial College London produced cellulose embedded with enzymes that can perform a variety of functions, such as sensing environmental pollutants and self-healing materials.
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.
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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).