3D Printing of Living Responsive Materials and Devices

Xinyue Liu; Hyunwoo Yuk; Shaoting Lin; German Alberto Parada; Tzu-Chieh Tang; Eléonore Tham; Cesar de la Fuente-Nunez; Timothy K Lu; Xuanhe Zhao

doi:10.1002/adma.201704821

3D Printing of Living Responsive Materials and Devices

Adv Mater. 2018 Jan;30(4). doi: 10.1002/adma.201704821. Epub 2017 Dec 5.

Authors

Xinyue Liu¹, Hyunwoo Yuk¹, Shaoting Lin¹, German Alberto Parada^{1

2}, Tzu-Chieh Tang^{3

4}, Eléonore Tham^{3

5}, Cesar de la Fuente-Nunez^{3

4

6}, Timothy K Lu^{3

4

6}, Xuanhe Zhao^{1

7}

Affiliations

¹ Soft Active Materials Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA.
² Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA.
³ Synthetic Biology Group, Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA.
⁴ Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA.
⁵ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA.
⁶ Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA.
⁷ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA.

PMID: 29205532
DOI: 10.1002/adma.201704821

Abstract

3D printing has been intensively explored to fabricate customized structures of responsive materials including hydrogels, liquid-crystal elastomers, shape-memory polymers, and aqueous droplets. Herein, a new method and material system capable of 3D-printing hydrogel inks with programed bacterial cells as responsive components into large-scale (3 cm), high-resolution (30 μm) living materials, where the cells can communicate and process signals in a programmable manner, are reported. The design of 3D-printed living materials is guided by quantitative models that account for the responses of programed cells in printed microstructures of hydrogels. Novel living devices are further demonstrated, enabled by 3D printing of programed cells, including logic gates, spatiotemporally responsive patterning, and wearable devices.

Keywords: 3D printing; living materials; spatiotemporal patterning; wearable living sensors.