Researchers Are 3D Printing With Bacteria to Create Bone-Like Composites

It is well known that 3D printing can be done with any numbers of unusual materials including cells, chocolate and more. But what about bacteria? Well, in a recent project, EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne AKA the Swiss Federal Institue of Technology Lausanne) researchers have done just that. More specifically, they have published a method for 3D printing with an ink that contains a calcium carbonate-producing bacteria. The resulting biocomposite has a number of interesting applications and is strong, light and environmentally friendly.

This is certainly not the first time that scientists have turned to the wider natural world to seek solutions for additive manufacturing. In fact, biomimicry, or the practice of imitating life, is popular in 3D printing as it allow for more optimization of parts, such as with lattice structures which imitate beehives. A similar reasoning is behind this project. The researchers looked towards nature which is able to produce composite materials that are simultaneously light and strong, porous and rigid (nearly impossible to do in a lab or factory) such as with mollusk shells or bone. Ultimately, they hope to produce materials that have these properties while also being environmentally friendly. Now with this this 3D printable ink, they have achieved just that.

By combining a bacteria-loaded ink (called BactoInk) and 3D printing, the scientists have successfully created a strong, light and environmentally friendly biocomposite

3D Printing Bacteria to Create Better Composites

In the paper published in Materials Today, 3D printing of living structural biocomposites, researchers at EFPL’s Soft Materials Laboratory, outlined how they were able to create the process. Namely, they created a 3D printable ink using the bacterium Sporosarcina pasteurii. This bacterium was chosen because it has an interesting ability, when exposed to a urea-containing solution, a mineralization process that produces calcium carbonate (CaCO3) is triggered. The new ink, dubbed BactoInk, is capable of printing virtually any shape and then will mineralize over the course of a few days.