101 Bacteria: vegan leather shoes with Tom Ellis 2e3j69

Move over, Cruella! Leather shoes, handbags and accessories don't have to be environmentally...

Move over, Cruella! Leather shoes, handbags and accessories don't have to be environmentally damaging and ethically challenging....not if they're vegan. In today's episode of Esto va de Micro, we talk to Tom Ellis, Professor at Imperial College, London, about the world of synthetic biology and how scientists are able to engineer the DNA of bacteria to perform new tasks. Bacteria can be genetically engineered to produce melanin, to pre-dye vegan leather. Bacterial vegan leather needs less land for animal feed, reduces the amount of water, and uses harsh chemicals needed to create the final product. On top of that this alternative does not require plastic fibres since it is made of cellulose, a biodegradable polymer. Would it be strange to wear shoes made from bacteria?…Maybe no stranger than wearing puppy skins!

This episode was produced by Irene de Andrés, Elias El Mansouri, and Alba Martín, and was mentored by Richard Williams.

Music obtained from Audionautix (https://audionautix.com/). Song: Nip The Slipple, by Jason Shaw.

Biorremediando con una Nausicaä real, Eva Rodríguez 11 días 18:53 "Quorum sensing": el Avatar del idioma microbiano, con Andrea Muras 26 días 16:44 La bioética contra(G)attaca: los dilemas de la biomedicina, con Enrique Iáñez 1 mes 23:31 Un bioataque perfecto con Nerea García Benzaquén 1 mes 15:23 The Last of Plants con Daniel Palmero 2 meses 16:58 Ver más en APP Comentarios del episodio 4d352j