Congrats to Biki for his publication “Extracellular respiration is a latent energy metabolism in Escherichia coli” out in Cell! This in-depth study of E. coli’s anaerobic metabolism presents a unified methodology to investigate the mechanism of mediated extracellular electron transfer and reveals a new extracellular respiratory pathway based on 2-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone. Read all about it here.
Huge congratulations to DOCTORS Siliang Li and Chiagoziem Ngwadom for passing their thesis defense. They both have done amazing research in our group and we are excited to see what their next chapter brings.
Congratulations to Xu, Olivia, and Rong for their collaborative paper with the Verduzco group! “Amplification of enzymatic and microbial fuel cells using organic electrochemical transistors” demonstrates interesting approaches to building thin-film sensing devices by coupling OECTs electronically with either an enzymatic fuel cell or microbial fuel cell. By amplifying microbial currents and enhancing signal quality, their simple and compact living device using synthetically engineered bacteria can detect arsenite in water! Read about it here.
Chloe passed her A-exam and is now a doctoral candidate! Her research project endeavors to create extreme-tolerant engineered living materials by combining biopolymers with modified Dienococcus radiodurans cells. We’re all very excited to see what she creates!
Congratulations to Esther, Carlson, Bobby, Marimikel, and Alanna on their publication “Genetically Modifying the Protein Matrix of Macroscopic Living Materials to Control Their Structure and Rheological Properties” now out in the “Materials Design by Synthetic Biology” special Issue of ACS Synthetic Biology. This is Esther’s inaugural first author paper and demonstrates fine-grained genetic control over the microstructures and material properties of an engineered living material. Read the article here!
Our brilliant graduate students, Esther Jimenez and Robyn Alba, were celebrated at the Take the Cake Ceremony on November 20, 2024. This Rice University tradition was started in 2016 to celebrate the achievements of graduate students and postdocs who earned competitive external fellowships. Esther is an awardee of the National Science Foundation (NSF) INTERN program and Robyn won a NSF Graduate Research Fellowship!
Congratulations to Siliang and Matt for publishing “Microbial bioelectronic sensors for environmental monitoring” in Nature Reviews Bioengineering! They cover system design from the lens of chassis selection, electron transfer engineering, cell–electrode interfaces, and fabrication methods, and offer possible solutions for real-world sensing of complex contaminants. Read the article here.
We’re pleased to announce that the perspective article arising from the 2023 Engineered Living Materials Workshop is now live! Entitled “Unlocking the societal potential of engineered living materials,” this work shares insights and recommendations for moving the field of ELMs forward. Keep an eye out for the next ELM Workshop to be held in Spring 2025! Read the article here.
Congratulations for Robyn, Siliang, Biki, and Rong for their protocol publication entitled “Characterizing Mediated Extracellular Electron Transfer in Lactic Acid Bacteria with a Three-Electrode, Two-Chamber Bioelectrochemical System.” This mediated EET method is demonstrated using L. plantarum and DHNA. Check it out here.
Congratulations to our own Esther Jimenez for being awarded the NSF INTERN grant. She and fellow grad student Eric Wuestoff are the first to win this award at Rice U!
This grant enables Esther to embark upon an internship at Solugen with their enzyme evolution team. The CAF lab is very supportive of our students taking on career development opportunities such as this and are excited to hear what Esther learns! Read more here.
Dr. Rong Cai and Dr. Caroline Ajo-Franklin are guest editing a special issue of Sensors entitled Point-of-Care Biosensors: Design and Applications. They seek manuscript submissions on a wide range of research topics, including molecular sensing machinery, detection methods, and integration of both into miniature or wearable devices. The deadline for submission is December 25, 2024 and you can find out details here!
