BACTERIAL SHADING

Buildings and construction account for about 40% of carbon emissions. With heating, cooling, ventilation and lighting demanding large amounts of energy, bacterial shading looks into the possibilities of using light sensitive E. coli to produce pigmentation that can provide shading and reduce cooling loads in buildings. 

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The specific goals of this research include constructing a photoreceptive genetic circuit in  E.coli, designing and fabricating a millifluidic chemostat to maintain cell viability, and define fabrication strategies that allow for the integration of the millifluidic light sensing bacteria into glass building enclosures.