Natural biological materials exhibit remarkable properties: self-assembly from simple raw
materials, precise control of morphology, diverse physical and chemical properties, self …

Highlights•Synthetic microbial communities have many potential uses in industrial
biotechnology.•Defined intercellular and spatiotemporal coordination enable precise …

Cellular processes are carried out by many genes, and their study and optimization requires
multiple levers by which they can be independently controlled. The most common method is …

Engineered living materials (ELMs) based on bacterial cellulose (BC) offer a promising
avenue for cheap-to-produce materials that can be programmed with genetically encoded …

Intercellular signaling is indispensable for single cells to form complex biological structures,
such as biofilms, tissues and organs. The genetic tools available for engineering …

One challenge for synthetic biologists is the predictable tuning of genetic circuit regulatory
components to elicit desired outputs. Gene expression driven by ligand-inducible …

The spontaneous emergence of patterns in nature, such as stripes and spots, can be
mathematically explained by reaction-diffusion systems. These patterns are often referred as …

Advancing synthetic biology to the multicellular level requires the development of multiple
cell-to-cell communication channels that propagate information with minimal signal …

Bacteria exist as communities in diverse multispecies environments. Quorum sensing, a
process for cell–cell communication, allows individual bacteria to glean information about …

Self-organization is a prerequisite of biological complexity. At the population level, it
amounts to spontaneously sorting different individuals through space and time. Here, we …