Alive: rhythmic buildings
July 31, 2020
The HBBE’s state-of-the-art Micro Bio Design lab build was completed in Spring 2020 and includes two cutting-edge DNA sequencers
August 11, 2020
The undesirable presence of bacteria and viruses on the solid surface presents an important threat in the indoor environment. Although the viruses don’t grow on any non-living surfaces, recent studies showed that coronaviruses such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) coronavirus or Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus can remain viable or infectious on surfaces like plastic and stainless steel for several weeks.
Developing an environmentally friendly and sustainable antimicrobial surface for the built environment is necessary to address the surface transmission of bacteria and viruses in the built environment. A key challenge is to design and fabricate new high-performance functional materials.
This project will develop a Nano-Engineered Functional surface through living materials fabrication processes. The materials will be designed and produced using microbial cells and their functions will be modified and optimized by grafting small molecules and nanoparticles. The project will focus on developing a novel approach to design and modify the surface of materials to achieve different functional properties.
We are aiming for these newly developed Nano-Engineered Functional Biomaterials to be applied in a unique Experimental ‘Living House, OME’ to better understand the interaction between a real building, its environment, and our functional materials.
