Genetically Engineered Clothing ?

[KarenAnne]

I've read some strange things this week; this was one of them.
It's a few years old, and I couldn't find any further information on it.
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
ABSTRACT
The genetically engineered bacteria can already be designed and cultured according to clients’ demands..... Clothing is an ideal medium in which to implant mobile bio-environments. Our project aims at developing new technologies for the incorporation of biologically active fibers and microenvironments with the goal of producing durable fabrics.... Ultimately these fabrics may form the basis for new lines of commercial products such fabrics that literally eat odors with genetically engineered bacteria.... Our immediate objectives are to establish basic fabric designs that can sustain bacterial life and function for long periods of time. We have developed the ability to grow GFP-producing E.coli and assess their viability and function based on fluorescent intensity. We have set up a set of techniques for loading E.Coli into select hollow fibers... A mechanical unloading technique based on union of centrifugal separation and enumeration of CFU (colony forming units) is under development to quantify the long term functional levels of bacteria within the fibers.
INTRODUCTION
The tools of genetic engineering enable people to design and create cell-based machines to perform useful tasks for mankind. The number and effectiveness of these living devices is rapidly expanding. Only the most basic and obvious cell-based devices have yet to be realized; but it is becoming increasingly clear that these genetically engineered machines represent a new paradigm in micro-fabrication. Bacterial and mammalian cells are incredibly efficient and compact machines that can now be designed and modified to perform the functions of our choice. We are just beginning to take advantage of these biological micro-devices. Clothing is an obvious habitat for biological micro- machines. Clothing is specifically designed to provide a comfortable environment for living cells. Clothing materials are generally bio- friendly...; and sources of heat, moisture and even nutrients for cellular micro-devices are all readily available from the human body. There are also some obvious initial applications that a clothing based bioreactor might be able to accomplish. The control of odors in clothes and shoes could be accomplished by secretion of deodorizers by the bacterial digestion of odor producing proteins.
Water repellent coatings on jackets or shirts could be continually replenished by imbedded bacteria, or self-cleaning clothes could be envisioned in which oil and protein digesting bacteria act continuously. These example applications represent the use of simple cellular devices that can be easily designed now. The goal of this project is to prepare ourselves not only for the inclusion of the simple cell-based devices of today; but for the unknown cell-based devices of the future. Our vision is to create fabric-based bioreactors in which colonies of mammalian cells or bacteria can live and function for extended periods of time. We want to learn which types of fabric-based bioreactors are best for promoting growth and function of the cells...We want to characterize the working life of a clothing-based bioreactor... in specially designed fabrics; and identify ways of extending that working life through improvements in the cellular environment or in the cells themselves. We ultimately hope to be in position to incorporate any cell-based machine into a bioactive fabric that can promote the cells' growth and function over long periods of time.

[jonsi]

I'd rather have stinky shoes and smelly pits than wear "Ultimately these fabrics may form the basis for new lines of commercial products such fabrics that literally eat odors with genetically engineered bacteria...."

We are human, after all?

Itwl,
~jonsi