The first “live ink” was created only from mutated germs

Researchers at Harvard and Northeastern University in the United States have created a “living ink” made up entirely of genetically modified bacterial cells.

The ink can be reproduced on its own and used in a 3D printer to create tiny structures that release drugs into the body or remove toxic substances from the environment. In the future it could even be used to create buildings on Earth or on the Moon.

Self-reproducing microbial ink, which grows in microbial cultures and externally resembles toothpaste, is the first printable gel made only from proteins produced by E.coli bacteria, without the addition of polymers or other ingredients. Until now, live inks have been a “cocktail” of germs and polymers. The new ink, while initially in liquid gel form, when printed on living structures, they no longer change and remain fixed in the form they have been printed on.

The researchers, who published the paper in the journal Nature Communications, used ink to create very small living structures (rings, squares, cones, grids, etc.) that either released the anti-cancer drug azurine or blocked the toxin. A (BPA) from the environment.

“It’s the first of its kind. “A living ink that can respond to the environment,” said lead researcher Avinas Mantzula-Basavana, according to the New York Times and New Scientist. However, he clarified that the ink still needs a lot of work to be applied in practice, as e.g. it is not stable enough to be the only base for larger structures such as a house, while after a while it dries.

Germs are already a key component of many products such as perfumes and vitamins, and in genetically modified form have been used to produce biodegradable plastics.