The fashion industry produces huge amounts of clothing made from synthetic materials like polyester and nylon. These materials are strong and cheap, but they’re not biodegradable — they stay in the environment for hundreds of years and release tiny microplastics into our oceans and soil. Natural fibers like cotton or hemp are better for the environment, but they don’t always have the strength or flexibility that synthetic ones do.
In this project, I aim to create a new type of clothing fiber that is both strong and biodegradable. The idea is to engineer a type of bacteria called Komagataeibacter so it can produce more bacterial nanocellulose (BNC), a natural, biodegradable material. Then, I’ll combine that BNC with natural fibers to create a hybrid material that is safe for the environment and still feels and performs like modern clothing fabrics.
This project brings together synthetic biology, genetic engineering, and materials science to offer a greener solution for fashion. If successful, it could help reduce plastic waste from clothing and offer a new way to make textiles sustainably.
Aim 1: Engineering the Bacteria
The first aim of my project is to improve the production of bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) by genetically modifying Komagataeibacter. I will design and assemble DNA constructs that can make the bacteria overproduce key cellulose-producing enzymes, and insert these into the bacterial cells using techniques like PCR and Gibson Assembly.
Aim 2: Creating the Hybrid Fiber
The second aim is to combine the bacterial cellulose with natural fibers (like cotton or hemp). This will be done by layering or blending the materials to form a new type of biodegradable fabric. I will test the strength and flexibility of the result to see if it can be used for clothing.
Aim 3: Long-Term Vision
The big-picture goal is to create a new kind of fabric that is both high-performance and biodegradable, reducing plastic waste in the fashion industry. This fiber could be made in a lab using engineered bacteria and renewable materials, potentially changing how clothes are made and making the fashion industry more sustainable.
Synthetic fibers dominate the fashion world because they’re cheap, strong, and easy to make. But they’re made from fossil fuels and don’t break down in nature. Every time we wash clothes made from polyester or nylon, they release microplastics that end up in our water and food systems.
Bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) is a promising alternative. It’s made naturally by bacteria, is fully biodegradable, and has great mechanical properties. BNC is already used in medicine and food packaging, but it hasn’t been widely explored for clothing.
Research shows we can increase BNC production by genetically modifying the bacteria that make it (Florea et al., 2016; Singh et al., 2020). By combining BNC with natural fibers, we may be able to create a new class of sustainable materials that can compete with synthetics — but without the pollution.