Cellulose is the most abundant organic polymer found in nature. Plants, bacteria and even some animals use its structural and chemical properties for applications such as support, adhesion and flotation. Due to its ubiquity we find cellulose in our everyday lives; from being the main constituent of cotton to uses in medicine and scientific research

Much of the cellulose we use is derived from plants. This is produced as a mixture with other compounds (e.g. lignin and hemicellulose) and so requires an energy intensive purification step to extract the pure cellulose required for many applications. Bacteria offer an alternative means of production that produces a cellulose that is purer and requires less processing.

We want to optimise the production of bacterial cellulose (BC) to increase its viability as a material for a range of potential applications. To do this we aim to engineer Gluconacetobacter xylinum (previously Acetobacter xylinum), a highly-studied native producer of BC. We also hope to transfer our system into E. coli as well as functionalise our biomaterial to give it additional properties.