AccScience Publishing / IJB / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/ijb.3939
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RESEARCH ARTICLE

Manipulating fungal growth in engineered living materials through precise deposition of nutrients

Jia Heng Teoh1 ,  Eugene Soh1 ,  Hortense Le Ferrand1, 2, 3, 4, *
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1 School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
2 School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
3 Singapore Center for 3D Printing, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
4 Future Cities Laboratory ETH Centre, Singapore
IJB 2024, 10(5), 3939 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijb.3939
Submitted: 14 June 2024 | Accepted: 27 July 2024 | Published: 30 July 2024
© 2024 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
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Abstract

One main challenge of emerging fungal-based engineered living materials (ELMs) lies in achieving localized multi-material properties in these structures. Although three-dimensional (3D) printing can efficiently vary local composition and properties, it has not yet been demonstrated in fungal-based ELMs. This work thus explores the concept of using nutrients to manipulate fungal foraging behavior in 3D structures fabricated using direct ink writing (DIW) for the next generation of fungal-based ELMs. Using two fungal strains (Pleurotus ostreatus and Ganoderma lucidum), this study showed that the ink formulation used is suitable for both DIW and mycelium growth. Varying the nutrient content allows for either the inhibition or promotion of exploration and bridging of mycelium in different sections, the control of mycelium density in three dimensions and the fabrication of patterned surfaces. There is potential in fabricating patterned fungal-based ELMs and lab-on-a-chip systems to investigate the effects of other substances and microorganisms on the foraging behavior of mycelium.

Keywords
3D printing
Direct ink writing
Engineered living material
Mycelium
Hydrogel
Foraging behavior
Funding
The authors acknowledge funding from the National Research Foundation of Singapore and ETH Zurich, Switzerland, with the grant Future Cities Laboratory Global, Module A4: Mycelium digitalization.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare they have no competing interests.
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International Journal of Bioprinting, Electronic ISSN: 2424-8002 Print ISSN: 2424-7723, Published by AccScience Publishing
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