bims-livmat Biomed News
on Living materials
Issue of 2026–08–23
two papers selected by
Sara Trujillo Muñoz, Leibniz-Institut für Neue Materialien
  1. Encapsulate bacteria in implantable hydrogels for living therapeutics.
  2. Material agency: operationalizing the living/nonliving interface in engineered materials.
  1. Matter. 2026 Aug 05. pii: 102962. [Epub ahead of print]9(8):
    Encapsulate bacteria in implantable hydrogels for living therapeutics.
    Rui Guo, Zhaoqi Duan, Ganghao Liang, Xiujun Fan, Jun Chen.
      Recent advances in implantable living materials have highlighted their potential for autonomous therapeutic delivery by integrating mechanically robust hydrogels with encapsulated therapeutic bacteria. By enabling long-term biocontainment, environmental sensing, and genetically programmed drug release within physiologically stable scaffolds, these living materials establish a versatile foundation for next-generation personalized therapeutics and closed-loop disease management.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matt.2026.102962
  2. Trends Biotechnol. 2026 Aug 18. pii: S0167-7799(26)00333-1. [Epub ahead of print]
    Material agency: operationalizing the living/nonliving interface in engineered materials.
    Andrea Belluati.
      The label 'engineered living materials' groups devitalized mycelium composites with metabolically active biosensors, applying shared metrics to systems with fundamentally different failure modes, safety profiles, and engineering requirements. This forum proposes a four-class operational taxonomy, a Maximum Agency Potential classification principle, and a minimum reporting standard that classify systems by biological agency dependence during use.
    Keywords:  biocontainment; biofabrication; biological agency; engineered living materials; operational taxonomy
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tibtech.2026.07.036
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