Mechanically Tunable, Compostable, Healable and Scalable Engineered Living Materials

Mechanically Tunable, Compostable, Healable and Scalable Engineered Living Materials | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Mechanically Tunable, Compostable, Healable and Scalable Engineered Living Materials Neel Joshi, Avinash Manjula-Basavanna, Anna Duraj-Thatte This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-3898282/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 12 Nov, 2024 Read the published version in Nature Communications → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Novel design strategies are essential to realize the full potential of Engineered Living Materials (ELMs), including their biodegradability, manufacturability, sustainability, and ability to tailor functional properties. Toward these goals, we present Mechanically Engineered Living Material with Compostability, Healability, and Scalability (MECHS) – a material that integrates these features in the form of a stretchable plastic that is simultaneously flushable, compostable, and exhibits the characteristics of paper. This plastic/paper-like material is produced directly from cultured bacterial biomass (40%) producing engineered curli protein nanofibers in scalable quantities (0.5-1 g L -1 ). The elongation at break (1-160%) and Young’s modulus (6-450 MPa) of MECHS was tuned to more than two orders of magnitude. By genetically encoded covalent crosslinking of curli nanofibers, we increase the Young’s modulus by two times. MECHS biodegrades completely in 15-75 days, while its mechanical properties are comparable to petrochemical plastics and thus may find use as compostable materials for primary packaging. Biological sciences/Biotechnology/Biomaterials/Biomaterials – proteins Biological sciences/Biotechnology/Nanobiotechnology/Nanostructures Physical sciences/Materials science/Structural materials/Mechanical properties Physical sciences/Engineering/Chemical engineering Physical sciences/Nanoscience and technology/Nanoscale materials/Synthesis and processing Full Text Additional Declarations Yes there is potential Competing Interest. Avinash Manjula-Basavanna, Anna M. Duraj-Thatte and Neel S. Joshi are inventors on a U.S. Provisional Patent Application (63/604,497) submitted by Northeastern University. Supplementary Files MECHSSupplementaryInformation.pdf Mechanically Tunable, Compostable, Healable and Scalable Engineered Living Materials Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 12 Nov, 2024 Read the published version in Nature Communications → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-3898282","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":271368671,"identity":"8f929f4d-22b1-4a0c-a9b3-d8f71f0d6bcc","order_by":0,"name":"Neel Joshi","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABB0lEQVRIie3QMWvCQBTA8SeBdHklqwXFr3ByoAhWv0rDQaYOju12INxUOkcc8hUyOl54cC52D1SoUOhscQ3YSxY75Ipjh/sP4ZHc78gdgM/3T2MAGqN66sjL299zO7mrVxT1I7yC2DQwfS0Z30hYHKt9j78vzel7Mx0MMjssYNrPdTuZvGgYrtQXjvZGpMUuGeYmFOsUEu4irHwAfisJR+Ujh0JRJw+RBwgUO8nHAThWhDxtyHmeqehkydlNSrAkJGTdhuhYGgws0W6yi6U9C2G3TAS8KSFyk9gfY4KvXGRLhh0rmkepIHhWs/tsSZ8BPs36rw5i71+xtq1cy5uCw5+ffT6fz/cDDPBhlugSg68AAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8236-3566","institution":"Northeastern University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Neel","middleName":"","lastName":"Joshi","suffix":""},{"id":271368672,"identity":"a3b1a607-e7d8-4362-8eab-ca25acc838c4","order_by":1,"name":"Avinash Manjula-Basavanna","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Northeastern University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Avinash","middleName":"","lastName":"Manjula-Basavanna","suffix":""},{"id":271368673,"identity":"1d2f88f1-42da-4e23-9f88-512d428cad84","order_by":2,"name":"Anna Duraj-Thatte","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Virginia Tech","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Anna","middleName":"","lastName":"Duraj-Thatte","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-01-25 20:26:12","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-3898282/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-3898282/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-53052-4","type":"published","date":"2024-11-12T05:00:00+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":68892896,"identity":"95ce0837-43fb-4b86-9168-d9fbf9f73db1","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-11-13 08:06:21","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":973193,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"MECHSManuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-3898282/v1_covered_32921d74-0433-4387-b6f9-0710c4dd472d.pdf"},{"id":51458051,"identity":"8e03e0c4-737e-4f3d-bae5-a06b7ffd13ac","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-02-22 03:04:54","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":16142053,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Mechanically Tunable, Compostable, Healable and Scalable Engineered Living Materials","description":"","filename":"MECHSSupplementaryInformation.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-3898282/v1/516c49566e5552371dfab937.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"\u003cb\u003eYes\u003c/b\u003e there is potential Competing Interest.\nAvinash Manjula-Basavanna, Anna M. 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