Preservation

Overview

To functionalize our bacterial cellulose packaging with preservative properties, our team utilized E. coli to express nisin within our co-culture. We aimed to increase the shelf life of fruit and vegetables by integrating a food safe, antimicrobial peptide (AMP) into our packaging, thereby reducing food waste.

To ensure our proposed solution was both effective and relevant to customer needs, our team employed an iterative human-centered design process:

1. Understand the Problem: How can synthetic biology prevent food waste?
2. Research and Ideate Solutions: Identify an antimicrobial peptide
3. Design Solutions: Integrate nisin into bacterial cellulose
4. Create and Test: Express nisin in E. coli and characterize antimicrobial properties
5. Evaluate: Use our INN and Golden Gate Assembly for future AMP production

The cycle of HP-informed iteration will continue as we further develop Cellucoat and explore further applications.