🧬 Week 13: Biodesign & Engineered Living Materials

Global Listener — Anastasia Ntavou | Athens, Greece Final Project Work Documentation

Connection to Engineered Living Materials

This week’s theme — engineered living materials (ELMs) — is the conceptual heart of the mycelium surfboard project. The surfboard is a living material: mycelium grows, self-organizes, and produces hydrophobin SC16 that permanently modifies its surface.

What makes this an ELM:

• Living component: G. lucidum mycelium actively grows through olive pomace substrate
• Engineered function: CRISPR-inserted SC16 adds programmed waterproofing
• Material output: Living process produces structural composite, then inactivated into permanent product

Frugal Science angle: Olive pomace costs ~€0/kg (waste). Hemp shives ~€0.50/kg. Total substrate cost for 2.5kg surfboard: < €15 vs. €50–150 for EPS foam core.

3D printing mycelium (Ren Ramlan / Bambu Labs X1 Carbon): Instead of compression molding, mycelium paste could be 3D-printed into surfboard shape — enabling complex internal geometries for buoyancy optimization and rapid shape iteration. Future direction to explore.