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Pattern 2.1: co-culturing self-pigmenting bacterial cellulose

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 August 2026

Liv Hui Laam Tsim Open the ORCID record for Liv Hui Laam Tsim [Opens in a new window] ,
Katie Gilmour ,
Thora Hafdis Arnardottir Open the ORCID record for Thora Hafdis Arnardottir [Opens in a new window] ,
Meng Zhang  and
Martyn Dade-Robertson Open the ORCID record for Martyn Dade-Robertson [Opens in a new window]
Liv Hui Laam Tsim*
Affiliation:
School of Architecture and Built Environment, Northumbria University, UK Living Construction Group, Hub for Biotechnology in the Built Environment, Northumbria University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK
Katie Gilmour
Affiliation:
Living Construction Group, Hub for Biotechnology in the Built Environment, Northumbria University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK School of Geography and Natural Sciences, Northumbria University, UK
Thora Hafdis Arnardottir
Affiliation:
Living Construction Group, Hub for Biotechnology in the Built Environment, Northumbria University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK School of Geography and Natural Sciences, Northumbria University, UK
Meng Zhang
Affiliation:
Living Construction Group, Hub for Biotechnology in the Built Environment, Northumbria University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK School of Geography and Natural Sciences, Northumbria University, UK
Martyn Dade-Robertson
Affiliation:
School of Architecture and Built Environment, Northumbria University, UK Living Construction Group, Hub for Biotechnology in the Built Environment, Northumbria University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK
*
Corresponding author: Liv Hui Laam Tsim; Email: liv.tsim@northumbria.ac.uk
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Abstract

With rising awareness of environmental costs in manufacturing, the textile and fashion industries are gradually adopting bio-based materials and biofabrication as emerging alternatives. Among a great range of living materials, bacterial cellulose provides significant plasticity and scalability. Recent studies in engineered living materials indicates that pigment biosynthesis can possibly be integrated into cellulose formation, creating self-pigmenting systems. Yet, design-oriented knowledge about how these systems generate specific pigment distributions and spatial patterns remains incomplete, especially regarding controllable patterning capabilities.

In response, this research focuses on building a systematic pigment- and pattern-oriented understanding of co-culture self-organisation. It investigates how pigment-producing and cellulose-producing microbes can co-produce diverse and aesthetically visible patterns, and how these biological tendencies can be harnessed as a design tool. The objective is to develop a co-culture design framework and corresponding fabrication methods that employ engineered Escherichia coli and Komagataeibacter xylinus, extending recent advances in bacterial cellulose biofabrication. Addressing the lack of transferable co-culture design methods in existing living materials research, this research treats self-pigmenting bacterial cellulose as a duo-species design system and organises parameters such as strain combinations, inducer and cofactor regimes and vessel geometries into an adaptive toolkit.

This research via experiment probes how microbial tendencies – such as edge accumulation, layer thickening or gradient following – can be mapped onto pigment distribution and emerging pattern types, by systematically varying chemical inputs and spatial arrangements. Thus, co-culture is positioned as a responsive material medium in which pigment expression and cellulose assembly are mutually conditioned. Instead of seeking absolute control of microbial behaviour, it explores how reproducible interactions between microbial growth tendencies and design parameters, informing the framework for coordinating pigmentation, cellulose formation and material performance, while extending discussions in bacterial-cellulose and bio-synthetic materials research.

Keywords

self-pigmenting bacterial celluloseengineered living materialsmicrobial patternbiomaterialbiofabricationbiodesign

Information

Type
Demo: Biodesign Conference
Information
Biotechnology Design , Volume 4 , 2026 , e62
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Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - SA
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the same Creative Commons licence is used to distribute the re-used or adapted article and the original article is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press or the rights holder(s) must be obtained prior to any commercial use.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2026. Published by Cambridge University Press

Description

By integrating pigment biosynthesis with cellulose production in a designed co-culture system, pigment emerges during growth rather than being added in a post-dyeing stage (Figure 1), reconfiguring the traditional workflow of first making a textile and then applying colour. This approach builds on wider developments in bio-based textiles and bacterial-cellulose material innovation (Biofabricate and Fashion for Good 2020; Burnstine and Camargo Reference Burnstine and Camargo2025; Vuruşkan and Özbengi Uslu Reference Vuruşkan and Uslu2025; Guan et al. Reference Guan, Han, Ling, Yang and Yu2022).

Figure 1.

By integrating pigment biosynthesis with cellulose production in a designed co-culture system, pigmentation occurs during growth instead of being applied afterwards.

Four petri dishes showing varying degrees of pigmentation.

The work further examines how spatial repetition emerges when these parameter sets are repeated across vessels, revealing reproducible relations between microbial growth tendencies and design configurations. The demo (Figure 2) translates this framework into an illuminated, multi-sample installation that scales up microbial biomaterials. It is built from self-pigmented bacterial cellulose samples cultivated in a variable co-culture system, where chemical ratios and vessel geometry shape pigment localisation, blending and fading. The co-culture approach draws on engineered living-material research in which programmable functions and bacterial-cellulose fabrication are developed through microbial systems (Gilbert et al. Reference Gilbert, Tang, Ott, Dorr, Shaw, Sun, Lu and Ellis2021; Gilmour et al. Reference Gilmour, Aljannat, Markwell, James, Scott, Jiang, Torun, Dade-Robertson and Zhang2023).

Figure 2.

The demo was built by multiple self-pigmented bacterial cellulose samples cultivated within a variable co-culture cultivation system.

A stack of three square plates with a textured surface, connected by vertical rods with screws.

Illuminated from below, the samples highlight links between colour and structure, inviting close observation (Figure 3). Each piece functions as both a prototype for scaled-up material assembly and a material record of its designed composition within the biofabrication framework. This positions bacterial cellulose as a potentially scalable material platform for bio-based and naturally coloured textile applications (Galdino Jr. et al. Reference Galdino, Medeiros, Amorim, Nascimento, Henrique, Costa and Sarubbo2021).

Figure 3.

Along with the descriptions that explain more details on how changes in parameters shape the resulting patterns, visitors are invited to engage by closely observing the demo.

Three round, yellowish-brown objects with textured surfaces.

Technical details

Dimension 15 × 15 × 18 cm.

Technical requirements

Electrical access for the bottom illumination.

A dim environment is recommended if possible.

Data availability statement

The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article and its supplementary materials.

Acknowledgments

I am grateful for the technical assistance of J. Virginia, R. Thomas and D. Ozkan.

Author contributions

H.L.T. conceived and developed the overall research concept, designed and conducted the experiments, analysed the data and drafted and revised the manuscript.

T.A. (Thora Arnardottir), M.Z. (Meng Zhang) and M.D.-R. (Martyn Dade-Robertson) supervised the research process, contributed to the development and refinement of the research design and provided critical feedback on the analysis and manuscript.

K.G. (Katie Gilmour) provided major technical support for the experimental design and laboratory procedures and contributed to the interpretation of the results and revision of the manuscript.

All authors read and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Financial support

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

Competing interests

None.

Ethical statement

This study did not involve human participants or animal subjects, and therefore ethical approval was not required.

References

Biofabricate, and Fashion for Good (2020) Understanding “Bio” Material Innovation: A Primer for the Fashion Industry. Amsterdam: Fashion for Good.Google Scholar
Burnstine, A and Camargo, A (2025) Fashioning the future: Bio-based textiles, circular innovation, and sustainability in emerging markets. Cleaner and Circular Bioeconomy 12, 100194. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clcb.2025.100194.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Galdino, CJ Jr, Medeiros, AD, Amorim, JD, Nascimento, HA, Henrique, MA, Costa, AF and Sarubbo, LA (2021) The future of sustainable fashion: Bacterial cellulose bio textile naturally dyed. Chemical Engineering Transactions 86, 1333–1338.Google Scholar
Gilbert, C, Tang, T-C, Ott, W, Dorr, BA, Shaw, WM, Sun, GL, Lu, TK and Ellis, T (2021) Living materials with programmable functionalities grown from engineered microbial co-cultures. Nature Materials 20(5), 691–700. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-020-00857-5 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilmour, KA, Aljannat, M, Markwell, C, James, P, Scott, J, Jiang, Y, Torun, H, Dade-Robertson, M and Zhang, M (2023) Biofilm inspired fabrication of functional bacterial cellulose through ex-situ and in-situ approaches. Carbohydrate Polymers 304, 120482, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbpol.2022.120482 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guan, Q-F, Han, Z-M, Ling, Z-C, Yang, H-B and Yu, S-H (2022) Growing bacterial cellulose-based sustainable functional bulk nanocomposites by biosynthesis: Recent advances and perspectives. Accounts of Materials Research 3(6), 608–619. https://doi.org/10.1021/accountsmr.2c00028 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vuruşkan, A and Uslu, FO (2025) Analyzing sustainability in fashion through bio-synthetic materials. Fashion Highlight SI11, 488–500. https://doi.org/10.36253/fh-3156.Google Scholar
Figure 0

Figure 1. By integrating pigment biosynthesis with cellulose production in a designed co-culture system, pigmentation occurs during growth instead of being applied afterwards.

Figure 1

Figure 2. The demo was built by multiple self-pigmented bacterial cellulose samples cultivated within a variable co-culture cultivation system.

Figure 2

Figure 3. Along with the descriptions that explain more details on how changes in parameters shape the resulting patterns, visitors are invited to engage by closely observing the demo.