Thinking Soils
Extra
The proposal anticipates a new era of fabrication driven by Synthetic Biology and our ability to manipulate living organisms to make new materials and structures. We are also going beyond the usual application domains of Synthetic Biology by applying it to Civil Engineering Design. To achieve this we will develop a living material which can respond to physical forces in its environment through the synthesis of strengthening materials. This concept is partialy biomimetic inspired by for example the way in which our bones strengthen, becoming denser under repeated load. However, we are also proposing to build this system using living bacteria cells which have no such functional requirement in nature.
Research Team: Jamie Haystead (RA + PhD), Akram Karimian (RA), Polly Moreland (RA), Helen Mitrani (Co-PI), Anil Wipat (Co-PI), Meng Zhang (Co-PI), Martyn Dade-Robertson (Co-PI).
Alumni: Jianye Wang (RA), Jennifer Wright (PhD + RA), Thora H Arnardottir (PhD), Beate Christgen (RA), Javier Rodrigues Corral (PhD), Aurelie Guyet (RA).
With special thanks to Luis Hernan and Carolina Ramirez-Figueroa
Publication list:
Book
Dade-Robertson M. Living Construction, Routledge (2020)
Journal Papers
Corral JR; Mitrani H, Dade-Robertson M, Zhang M, Maiello P. Agarose gel as a soil analogue for the development of advanced bio-mediated soil improvement methods. Canadian Geotechnical Journal (2020).
Dade-Robertson M, Mitrani H, Rodriguez-Corral J, Zhang M, Hernan L, Guyet A, Wipat A. Design and modelling of an engineered bacteria-based, pressure-sensitive soil. Bioinspiration & Biomimetics 2018, 13(4).
Guyet A, Dade-Robertson M, Wipat A, Casement J, Smith W, Mitrani H, Zhang M. Mild hydrostatic pressure triggers oxidative responses in Escherichia coli. PLoS ONE 2018, 13(7), e0200660.
Dade-Robertson M, Keren-Paz A, Zhang M, Kolodkin-Gal I. Architects of nature: growing buildings with bacterial biofilms. Microbial Biotechnology 2017, 10(5), 1157-1163.
Dade-Robertson M. Building Science: Synthetic Biology and emerging technologies in architectural research, Architectural Research Quarterly 2016, 20(01), 5-8.
Dade-Robertson M, Figueroa C, Zhang M. Material Ecologies for Synthetic Biology: Biomineralization and the State Space of Design. Computer-Aided Design 2015, 60, 28-39.
Selected Conference Papers (since 2018)
Arnardottir T, Mitrani, H, Zhang, M, Dade-Robertson, M. Turbulent Casting: Bacterial Expression in Mineralized Structures. Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA). 2020.
Wright J, Dade-Robertson M, Zhang M. The study of the activation of Bacillus Subtilis urease in-vivo. Construction Materials and Geotechnical Engineering (MBCMG2020)
Haystead J, Arnardottir T, Christgen B, Dade-Robertson, M, Zhang M. The Optimisation of Microbial Induces Calcium Carbonate Precipitation for Soil Improvement. Construction Materials and Geotechnical Engineering (MBCMG2020)
Moreland P, Zhang M, Christgen B, Dade-Robertson M, Wipat N. Synthetic Biology for the Built Environment: A Pressure Sensing and Responsive Bacillus subtilis Designer Biology 2019, Newcastle, UK
Arnardottir T, Dade-Robertson M, Mitrani H, Christgen B, Zhang M, Bacterial Choreography: Designing interactions through biological induced mineralisation. International Symposium on Biomineralization (Biomin) 2019, Munich, Germany
Corral JR, Mitrani H, Dade-Robertson M, Zhang M. Agarose gel as a soil analogue for novel ground improvement applications. In: 3rd World Congress on Civil, Structural, and Environmental Engineering (CSEE '18). 2018, Budapest, Hungary
Arnardottir T, Mitrani, H, Zhang, M, Dade-Robertson, M. Bacterial Choreography: Designing interactions through biological induced mineralisation Construction Materials and Geotechnical Engineering (MBCMG2020)
