3D Bioprinted Engineered Living Microreactors for Continuous Organophosphorus Compound Degradation

Engineered living materials (ELMs) are poised to play a pivotal role in addressing critical global environmental challenges through advances in green energy production, biosensing and bioremediation. When coupled with advanced manufacturing techniques, such as 3D bioprinting, new opportunities emerge for the fabrication of high-resolution self-supporting ELM structures suitable for hosting microbial populations with bespoke chemical activity. Accordingly, the design and fabrication of a 3D bioprinted microbial ELM flow-bioreactor comprising genetically engineered Escherichia coli are described. The metabolically active ELM bioreactor cyclically detoxifies organophosphorus compounds via inducible expression of the Agrobacterium radiobacter phosphotriesterase. Principal component analysis is performed to reduce the dimensionality of the mass transfer kinetic analysis, uncovering spatiotemporal features within the dynamical evolution of the data. This provides valuable insights into the design parameters essential for the development of highly efficient catalytic microbial ELM bioreactors.