E. Karana
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65 records found
1
Living Therapeutic Skin (LTS)
Design Opportunities and Challenges of On-Skin Living Artefacts
The Living Therapeutic Skin (LTS) is a novel living material currently in development as part of a European project. Integrating engineered microbes to detect and treat eczema flare-ups, LTS offers significant promise for managing this prevalent skin condition. However, as a microbial material in its early developmental stage, LTS faces challenges related to social acceptance when it is embedded in on-skin living artefact for daily human use. To address these challenges in the further development of these materials, we conducted a workshop employing boundary objects to illustrate four hypothetical LTS applications in everyday contexts. Our participatory approach engaged a multidisciplinary group, including a dermatologist, scientists, biodesigners, and eczema patients. Analysis of the workshop data revealed several important factors affecting the wearability and acceptance of on-skin living artefacts. This paper elaborates on these factors to explore the potential implications of LTS, examining its design prospects and hurdles while discussing possible avenues for a broader range of human-skin interfaces.
Microbial Biomineralisation in Living Artefacts for Regenerative Ecologies
An Overview and Design Pathways
By leveraging the unique qualities of microorganisms, engineered living materials (ELMs) offer functional and economic advantages in everyday applications along with notable ecological benefits. This study contributes to the growing field of biodesign by examining the potential of Flavobacteria for thermochromic ELMs. Many Flavobacteria, commonly found in marine environments, produce iridescent structural colorations as their colonies expand on semi-solid surfaces through gliding motility. In this study, we analyzed the effects of temperature variations on flavobacterium Cellulophaga lytica PLY-A2, characterizing distinct changes in colony growth and iridescent colorations at a macroscopic and microscopic scale. Using scanning electron microscopy, we investigated the relationship between iridescent color and the underlying cell-based optical structures. By providing insights into the temperature-responsive behavior of Flavobacteria, our findings highlight their potential for future thermochromic ELMs—with applications ranging from sustainable food packaging to smart textiles—while encouraging further characterization studies within biodesign research.
A reflective lab journal for biodesign
Navigating more-than-human sensibilities and disciplinary tensions
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Designing Living Artefacts for Multispecies Interactions
An Ecological Approach
Design for serene textile experiences
A toolkit
Living with Cyanobacteria
Exploring Materiality in Caring for Microbes in Everyday Life
(Re)activate, (Re)direct, (Re)arrange
Exploring the Design Space of Direct Interactions with Flavobacteria
Becoming microbes
An approach to cultivating microbial sensibilities in biodesign
Direct interaction with cultural heritage (CH) artefacts is frequently unavailable to visitors, offering an opportunity for HCI designers to explore integrating material aspects into digitally-mediated encounters with CH artefacts. We argue that a thorough understanding of the material experiences of CH artefacts can open a novel design space, enabling engaging and meaningful interactions with digital representations. Capitalising on this potential, we present a user study where we systematically explore the material experiences of historic pop-up and movable books. Our analysis identifies five key material qualities to inspire augmentation: fold-ability, slide-ability, tear-ability, age-ability, and print-ability. Highlighting how these material qualities can inspire novel interactions with their digital representations, we present two extended-reality (XR) prototypes of a CH book. With our work, we present HCI designers with a novel approach on designing CH experiences, firmly rooted in materiality, challenging the prevalent paradigms of 'technology-driven' or 'as-realistic-as-possible' sensory experiences often found in CH-HCI.
AnimaTo
Designing a Multimorphic Textile Artefact for Performativity
Plant root growth can be altered by introducing obstacles in the path of growth. This principle is used in design to produce planar grid structures composed of interweaving roots. The Engineered Plant Root Materials (EPRMs) grown with this method have the potential to serve as environmentally sensitive alternatives for conventional materials, but their applications are delimited by their material properties. To bridge the gap in the wider application of these materials, the role of plant root structure and an agar-agar matrix are explored in relation to the mechanical properties of the EPRMs. Tensile tests were performed on five root configurations, ranging from single roots to grids of varying sizes. Heterogeneities in each configuration suggest poor load distribution throughout the structure. Agar-agar was introduced as a biopolymer matrix to improve load distribution and tensile properties. Digital microscopy at the intersection of grid cells suggests a correlation between cell size, root tip density, and material strength. The largest cell size (2 cm) had the highest root tip density and yield strength (0.568 ± 0.181 roots/mm2 and 0.234 ± 0.018 MPa, respectively), whereas the structure with the least root tips (1 cm) was 31 % weaker.