Visit our work at Edinburgh Science Festival this year!

HBBE is present with several exhibition pieces in the main atrium of the National Museums Scotland on Chambers Street in Edinburgh.

HBBE is showcasing parts of ‘BioMateriOME’, a Biomaterial Library exhibiting work across several HBBE research groups as Living Construction, Living Textiles and Microbial Environments.

The library contains samples such as Bacterial Cellulose, Microbially induced Calcite (MICP) and Mycelium Composite Samples.

The Living Textiles Research Group additionally displays the ‘Growing Room’ Project, a three-metre high architecture composed of fungal mycelium and knitted British wool. The Group also presented insights into the design and biofabrication process of the specifically developed piece at the Growing Home After Hours Event (04.04.24)

The festival is on until 14th April. #EdiSciFest

The Living Textiles Research Group has been established as a core research theme for the Hub for Biotechnology in the Built Environment. Living Textiles, led by Jane Scott, positions textiles as a critical biofabrication strategy for the development of new materials and construction methods, transforming biomaterials and biosynthesised polymers into environmentally responsive, and programmable systems that operate at the scale of the built environment. 

“It is fantastic achievement for Living Textiles to become a research theme in HBBE. Textiles offer such diverse and scalable solutions for biotech; we are growing architectures with wool and mycelium as well as developing a new generation of textile fibres and filaments to address circularity and sustainability in the textile industry.” Dr Jane Scott

Current work by Living Textiles includes The Growing Room on display at Edinburgh Science Festival, 30th March – 14th April 2024 and BioKnit Arch at the London Design Museum until the end of August 2024.

Find more information about the research theme at Living Textiles.

In January 2024 Living Textiles welcomed visiting researcher Jan Konicek from FUA Technical University Liberec to The Hub for Biotechnology in the Built Environment. Working alongside Newcastle University PhD researcher Phoebe Lewis, Jan’s  innovative non-woven technology was used to explore new architectural surfaces and develop the Living Nanofiber Pavilion.

The technology creates an innovative non-woven membrane that can be directly applied to to a supporting sub-structure. For this research the technology is sprayed to create a surface membrane coating 3D woven plant-based cocoon as the central form of the Nanofiber Pavilion. In the next stage of the project the membrane acts as scaffold for mycelium growth, transforming the multi layered structure into a novel biocomposite.

From light pollution to e-waste and healthy ageing to biomaterials, the Festival of Futures at Lancaster University is all set to show how design research can respond to an array of local and global challenges in collaboration with The Centre for Print Research at University of the West of England, Bristol; The Hub for Biotechnology in the Built Environment at Newcastle University and Northumbria University; and Lab4Living at Sheffield Hallam University. 

The Festival of Futures exhibition includes prototypes from HBBE; BioKnit, ELF, microbial 3D printer Healing Masonry, MycoKnit CompoSit and Fibre Highways.

The Festival of Futures also comprises two symposiums, both open to the public, which are all set to demonstrate howcollaborative design working with partners from industry, health, private and public sectors can provide a better, smarter tomorrow. 

Executive Director of ImaginationLancaster Professor Nick Dunn says: “We are delighted to be hosting this festival to demonstrate the transformational power of design and design research for the benefit of people, place, and planet”.

The full programme for the Festival and exhibition opening times can be viewed here where you can also register your free place at the events.

Exhibition dates: Thursday 7th March through to Friday 15th March 2024

Exhibition Location: LICA Building, Lancaster University, Bailrigg, Lancaster, LA1 4YW.
The exhibition is free to enter and you do not require a ticket.

We are excited to announce our upcoming exhibition in the _OME:

Biogenic Construction: Building the future with microbial minerals

Biomineralization is nature’s method of creating durable, robust materials using minimal energy. This process not only produces materials of remarkable complexity but also intelligently designs them to adapt and remodel in response to environmental changes. Harnessing this capability presents a significant challenge for the fields of material science, biotechnology, and design. Our exhibition highlights efforts within the Living Construction Theme of the Hub for Biotechnology in the Built Environment (HBBE) to pioneer advanced biomineralization techniques employing microbes, allowing design on multiple scales. The exhibits will explore early-stage research into self-healing materials, and materials that can remodel themselves under stress. Additionally, we will present more advanced developments in biological cement through innovative casting methods and cements capable of sequestering CO₂. The exhibition will also feature commercial applications of this technology, which aims to develop low-carbon bio-composites by repurposing industrial waste.

Join us for guided tours of the innovative exhibition on building the future with microbial minerals at the OME, available from March 22-28.

Book Your Visit to Biogenic Construction and find out more at the exhibitions website!

Exciting news on the way –  We are currently building our Bioknit Prototype Nr. 4 #The Growing Room.

A three-metre high architecture composed of fungal mycelium and knitted British wool is currently growing in Newcastle City Centre, at 55 Westgate Road, Newcastle Arts Centre (NE1 1SG).

If you live in Newcastle, take a sneak peak through the window at Westgate Road junction to follow our growing progress (until the 20th of March). 

The Growing Room structure will be exhibited as part of the Edinburgh Science Festival at the National Museum of Scotland (30th March -14th April).

Come and have a look – Stay tuned! 

We are thrilled to share the exhilarating news that the Bio-Futures for Transplanetary Habitats (BFfTH) Special Interest Group has officially launched its brand-new website!

The newly unveiled website is a dynamic hub designed to foster collaboration, showcase projects, and provide a Resource Hub with news, events, publications and so on.

We encourage you to explore the website and to contact BFfTH if you’re interested in collaborating, joining the team, contributing project ideas for potential partnerships, or simply if you just want to have a chat!

Visit the website here: biofutures.space

We are delighted to announce that we are exhibiting at the Design Museum London as part of the Future Observatory Display, opening on the 20^th of November to the public! 

Visit us: 

Second Floor, Future Observatory, London Design Museum 

Free Display

More information about the Future Observatory Display here.

The Future Observatory Display is dedicated to design research on the environmental crisis curated by the Future Observatory, the museum’s national programme for the green transition. The 6 exhibited projects showcasing ongoing research demonstrating how designers are rethinking and adapting their practice to confront the environmental issues we face and work towards liveable futures.

HBBE is presenting BioKnit, a knitted biohybrid structure composed of fungal mycelium, that has specifically designed using computer modelling to arch precisely across the balcony. Observe the process of building such structures through drawings and footage in the exhibition, as well as walk under the catenary mycelium arch that spans over two metres. The arch demonstrates the design possibilities of a biofabrication system that brings together 3D knitted fabric formwork with mycocrete; a unique formulation of mycelium composite, developed by the researchers for use with soft textile moulds. 

Find out more about the Bioknit Prototype and its display here!

The exhibition is open until August 2024.

Among HBBE, the exhibition features research by Climavore, Dark Matters Lab, Dr Julia King, Dunne & Raby, & Faber Futures.

Plan your visit at the London Design Museum here.

More information about the BioKnit Prototype on display here.

Research Team: Jane Scott, Ben Bridgens, Romy Kaiser, Armand Agraviador; Research Support: Dilan Ozkan, Oliver Perry

Hub for Biotechnology in the Built Environment, Newcastle University

You are warmly invited to our Research Seminar Series that is open to ALL looking to learn and engage with our NUAcT fellows.

Come along to meet our fellows and the NUAcT team and be inspired by the diverse research happening at Newcastle University!  The seminar series showcases fellows latest research, research culture initiatives & fellowships journeys. 

All welcome to attend.

 Thursday 23^rd November

 1:30-3:30

 Farrell Centre, Eldon Place

  Refreshments available!

Speakers:  

Introduction from Ben Bridgens, HBBE Director

Magdalini Theodoridou

Magda’s research focuses on Biological Self-healing for Sustainable Building and Smart Heritage Conservation. Magda joined the Hub for Biotechnology in the Build Environment as a NUAcT Fellow in 2020, and her vision is to develop a world leading centre where novel biotechnological processes are developed and explored to create a new generation of Living Buildings which are responsive to their natural environment.

Marin Sawa

Marin’s work explores biology in action, particularly photosynthesis, to design ecosophical interfaces of technology and aesthetics for sustainable change from molecular to macro scale and from inside to outside. Her NUAcT fellowship research develops architectures of photosynthesis-powered bioelectronics with areas of investigation spanning from molecular-scale interfaces between the living and non-living in device design and digital biofabrication to autopoiesis to wider ecology, with a view to contribute towards the reduction of global electrical waste. 

Jane Scott

Jane’s research is located at the intersection of programmable materials, knitted fabric design, textile technology and biology. As a textile specialist her research challenges the established understanding of smart materials for architecture; applying principles derived from biology to the development of environmentally responsive textile systems composed of natural and sustainable materials.

Jane’s NUAcT research will focus on the potential to design with biology using textile fabrication processes. She is developing a new generation of living textiles for architecture; knitted fabrics that adapt their properties in response to environmental stimuli, acting as a programmable interface to maintain a healthy environment in buildings.

 Spread the Word:

Help us create a vibrant community at Newcastle University. Share this invitation with your colleagues to expand the reach of our seminar series.

 Learning Opportunities:

Open to all researchers, students and professional services staff.

For more information contact nuact.admin@newcastle.ac.uk 

We are delighted to share updates on the latest work from the Microbial Environments Theme, researching on OMEinfo.

WHAT IS OMEinfo?

OMEinfo is an open-source bioinformatics tool designed to automate the retrieval of consistent geographical metadata for microbiome research. It provides an easy-to-use interface for researchers to obtain geographical metadata, including Koppen climate classification, degree of rurality, population density, and fossil fuel CO2 emissions from user-provided location data. The tool aims to facilitate cross-study comparisons and promote reproducibility in microbiome research by adhering to the principles of FAIR and Open data.

OVERVIEW

Find further information and an overview about the tool in the video below:

REPOSITORY

Find the repository for the tool HERE.

RELATED PUBLICATIONS

OMEinfo can annotate CO2 emissions, climate type, relative deprivation rurality and more, using satellite data, and in the pre-print an analysis of ENA data shows that it is vital such metadata is annotated consistently across the globe for future meta-analysis. Access the pre-print HERE.