Abstract

Bacteria are capable to produce a variety of intracellular inclusions1. Recent insights into the self-assembly of polyhydroxyalkanaote and protein inclusions have provided molecular tools towards the production of custom-made and highly functionalized nano/micro-structures2,3. Bioengineering of PHA inclusions and the development of a scalable biotechnological production process will be discussed. PHA beads were produced which engineered surface proteins mediated functionalities for applications in medicine and industry. Medical applications comprised the use as particulate vaccines for preventive treatment of infectious diseases as well as in diagnostics implementing ELISA, fluorescence activated cell sorting, lateral flow strips and skin tests. Industrial applications were focusing on uses of these new materials as high affinity purification resins, which can be easily tailored toward a desired specificity. The integration of enzymes into these nano/micro-structures enabled applications in the cleanup of environmental pollutions, biomass conversion and fine chemical synthesis. In this presentation, I will outline the design space provided by the use of engineered living organisms such as bacteria for the manufacture of high-performance supramolecular assemblies as well as their application performance.