Nico Prandi has been busy generating sustainable hydrogels using Gluconacetobacter hansenii for the AMPlify project, which aims to express and immobilise antimicrobial peptides in a “one pot” cell-free protein synthesis reaction.
Gluconacetobacter hansenii are a canonical bacteria for producing cellulose which is gaining attention as a material biomedical applications due to its physico-chemical characteristics including high thermal stability, easy biodegradability, good water holding capacity, high tensile strength, and high degree of polymerization (Rahman et al., 2021).
In shaking liquid media, the cellulose forms the interesting spheres in the video above but it can also be cultured as a biofilm. It is surprisingly tough to handle and break up! Preliminary results indicate that the affinity tag we are using for immobilisation shows strong binding when fused to reporter proteins and work is underway with our antimicrobial peptides of interest.
Rahman, Sameeha Syed Abdul, et al. “Production of bacterial cellulose using Gluconacetobacter kombuchae immobilized on Luffa aegyptiaca support.” Scientific Reports 11.1 (2021): 1-15.