On 24 April 2026, BIOACTION chaired and presented a symposium at the TERMIS-EU 2026 Conference in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. The session explored Engineering Living Materials as a “New Frontier at the Intersection of Biology and Materials Science”. “The symposium was a success and the room was full of active young researchers,” shared Maria Grazia Raucci, one of the keynote speakers and BIOACTION partners from IPCB-CNR.
What are Engineered Living Materials, and why do they matter?
Engineered living materials (ELMs) are materials made entirely or partly of living cells. ELMs can perform functions that traditional materials cannot: they can sense their environment, respond to it, and even repair themselves. At the same time, they have the potential to be cheaper and cleaner. From healthcare to infrastructure to transportation, ELMs could reshape how we design and build the things we rely on.
BIOACTION is developing a specific type of ELM based on bacteria. Bacteria naturally interact with the human body in complex ways. The project’s approach is to reprogram specific bacteria so that they can help repair tissue and recover from infections. This could be an alternative to traditional antibiotic therapies, which contribute to the growing and urgent problem of antimicrobial resistance.
A symposium that filled the room
Luigi Ambrosio (IPCB-CNR), the project coordinator, Elisabeth Engel (IBEC), and Eli Christoph chaired the session. BIOACTION researcher Maria Grazia Raucci delivered her keynote talk on smart hydrogels that combine therapeutic and regenerative properties, for example, ELMs for bone regeneration.
Five other speakers from across Europe presented cutting-edge research on ELMs, from fungi as scaffolds for biomedical and wound healing applications to bioengineered living materials for tackling solid tumours.
The event was recognised by Barbara Gerratana—Programme Coordination Manager at the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency—as an important outreach effort for the work of BIOACTION and the broader EIC ELM portfolio, a dedicated group of ten European-funded projects, including BIOACTION, advancing ELM research across Europe.