Unraveling the Mechanisms of Biogenesis of Thiophene Based Microfibers

The unmatchable capability of living cells to fabricate complex structure starting from simple building blocks offers new paradigms to seamlessly integrate new electronic structures into the living matter, creating new hybrid devices. We have previously shown the capability of both cells and Hydra to produce fluorescent and conductive interface embedded into the animal tissues, starting from thiophene-based compounds, demonstrating the feasibility to biofabricate novel biocompatible and conformable bioelectronic interfaces. Here we show that the potential of biofiber production is broadly valid in other biological systems, and performed a systematic chemical engineering approach to identify the chemical groups involved in the spontaneous fiber assembling in vivo. Several approaches were followed to decipher the biosynthetic process and to characterize these conductive materials, whose potential as innovative material for electrical devices and therapeutics will be presented and discussed.