ERC Starting Grant · 2023
Engineering of bacteria to see light
EOS wants to create a new class of biohybrid living materials capable to perceive light and perform tasks remotely (i.e. drug delivery in hard-to-reach body locations). I propose to achieve this by inducing light sensitivity into non-photosynthetic motile bacteria at minimum invasiveness and complexity. Based on the notion that the active manipulation of the bacteria membrane potential allows controlling bacterial functions, including motion, EOS challenge is how to trigger effectively a membrane potential dynamics. EOS will employ a materials-based approach that I call “optobacterial-stimulation” and is composed by two key ingredients: i. light as a spatiotemporal precise tool that can…
From the public funding record at EU CORDIS. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.