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Petri Dish Paint? The Search for Coating Solutions in Microbiology

We’ve posted before about researchers developing paint and other coating solutions from interesting ingredients. For example, paint products created from foods like milk and potatoes, or coatings developed for specific purposes like reducing the heat in large cities. Here’s yet another example of the advancements in the industry: paint grown from specialized bacteria.

Color in the bacteria is modified by light reflecting in various ways.

“We see a potential in the use of such bacterial colonies as photonic pigments that can be readily optimized for changing coloration under external stimuli and that can interface with other living tissues, thereby adapting to variable environments”, commented co-senior author Silvia Vignolini from the team at Cambridge’s Department of Chemistry.

To read more about their fascinating work, click here.