RE-PHORM · Responsive and Evolving, Phytomorphic and Origami-inspired Living Material

The morphogenesis ability of living organisms has inspired the field of Engineering Living Materials (ELM), a new branch of materials science that exploit the self-assembling, dynamic and evolving abilities of living systems to create constructs with adaptive and responsive characteristics. However, most current ELM designs remain limited by the static nature of the supporting synthetic materials, whereas the living part grows and evolves in response to external stimuli. This mismatch between biological morphogenesis and passive structural conformation of the material is also accompanied by a lack of long-term stability and self-repair capabilities, as the current state-of-the-art in ELMs primarily relies on microbial systems and engineered biofilms. The RE-PHORM project introduces a new paradigm of ELMs, in the form of responsive and evolving, phytomorphic origami-inspired living materials. The project aims to control and direct cell morphogenesis to trigger structural transitions in biohybrid, hydrogel-based scaffolds, designed in the form of origami-inspired conformations. This will be achieved by first optimizing the scaffold design in terms of hydrogel formulation and origami’s hinges patterning. Following scaffold design, embedding and spatial control of plant cell growth will be implemented through the application of environmental cues. The conformational change of the origami will be mediated by plant cell-secreted enzymes, i.e. peroxidases, which will initiate hinge-localized polymerization, eventually leading to the origami folding actuation. By combining the engineered morphogenesis of plant cells with innovative polymerization strategies, RE-PHORM envisions a new class of shape-morphing materials with self-evolving and adaptive properties, bridging the gap between living and non-living systems and paving the way for the development sustainable and responsive constructs.