Bio Hacking in Manchester
Title: DIYBIO – Microbial fuel cell 101
Location: MadLab (Downstairs)
Description: Join the Manchester DIYBio group for their regular meet up
Start Time: 19:00
Date: 2012-01-25
End Time: 22:00
Booking: Free, but limited.
The evening of the 25th January is a DIYbio fuel cell special, where we’ll be building and comparing an array of microbe-powered batteries with the help of MMU’s Dr. Trish Linton who also ran the fuel cell session at the DIYbio Summit back in October.
Here’s what happened the first time we ran this workshop during the DIYBIO Summit during the Manchester Science Festival 2011.
Along the way we’ll be trying to answer some crucial microbe-y questions:
- How do microbial fuel cells actually work?
- Which part of the Northern Quarter has the hardest working soil bacteria?
- Who would win in a tug of war? Brewers’ yeast or the instant stuff out of a packet?
- Will microbes fuel the future? When will my car have a composter rather than a fuel tank?
So come on over at 7pm on the 25th Jan – no need to bring anything other than some microbe-y enthusiasm. All bugs courtesy of the Northern Quarter.
Tags: DIYBio MCR, Microbial Fuel Cell
Here’s an Abstract of the first paper I could find that refers to recent work on bacteris and electron transfer via nanowires, which are actually synthesised by the bacteria:
Extracellular electron transfer via microbial nanowires
Author(s): Reguera, G (Reguera, G); McCarthy, KD (McCarthy, KD); Mehta, T (Mehta, T); Nicoll, JS (Nicoll, JS); Tuominen, MT (Tuominen, MT); Lovley, DR (Lovley, DR)
Source: NATURE Volume: 435 Issue: 7045 Pages: 1098-1101 DOI: 10.1038/nature03661 Published: JUN 23 2005
Times Cited: 411 (from Web of Science)
Cited References: 25 [ view related records ] Citation Map
Abstract: Microbes that can transfer electrons to extracellular electron acceptors, such as Fe(III) oxides, are important in organic matter degradation and nutrient cycling in soils and sediments(1,2). Previous investigations on electron transfer to Fe(III) have focused on the role of outer-membrane c-type cytochromes(1,3). However, some Fe(III) reducers lack c-cytochromes(4). Geobacter species, which are the predominant Fe(III) reducers in many environments(1), must directly contact Fe(III) oxides to reduce them(5), and produce monolateral pili(6) that were proposed(1,2), on the basis of the role of pili in other organisms(7,8), to aid in establishing contact with the Fe(III) oxides. Here we report that a pilus-deficient mutant of Geobacter sulfurreducens could not reduce Fe(III) oxides but could attach to them. Conducting-probe atomic force microscopy revealed that the pili were highly conductive. These results indicate that the pili of G. sulfurreducens might serve as biological nanowires, transferring electrons from the cell surface to the surface of Fe(III) oxides. Electron transfer through pili indicates possibilities for other unique cell-surface and cell-cell interactions, and for bioengineering of novel conductive materials.
Accession Number: WOS:000229970400049
Document Type: Article
Language: English
KeyWords Plus: INSOLUBLE FE(III) OXIDE; GEOBACTER-METALLIREDUCENS; PSEUDOMONAS-AERUGINOSA; IV PILI; REDUCTION; SULFURREDUCENS; RESPIRATION; BIOGENESIS; METABOLISM; MOTILITY
Reprint Address: Lovley, DR (reprint author), Univ Massachusetts, Dept Microbiol, Amherst, MA 01003 USA
Addresses:
1. Univ Massachusetts, Dept Microbiol, Amherst, MA 01003 USA
2. Univ Massachusetts, Dept Phys, Amherst, MA 01003 USA
E-mail Address: dlovley@microbio.umass.edu
Publisher: NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP, MACMILLAN BUILDING, 4 CRINAN ST, LONDON N1 9XW, ENGLAND
Web of Science Category: Multidisciplinary Sciences
Subject Category: Science & Technology – Other Topics
IDS Number: 937ZT
ISSN: 0028-0836
Will microbes fuel the future? I think so, at least I hope so .. The problem is that the amounts that represent oil, these studies are hampered by powerful lobbies
[...] the last year, over 350 people have dissected octopuses, made fuel cells with soil from Northern Quarter car parks, attended the UK’s first DIY Bio summit, gotten to [...]