Abstract
This paper explores materials in transition through Living Textiles, a platform that integrates genetically engineered whole-cell biosensors into textiles for on-body physiological and environmental sensing. The project investigates how textiles can act as computational and ecological systems, integrating living cells that sense their environment and communicate through material change. By combining biological sensing with textile craft, Living Textiles reframes smart materials as regenerative and cohabited rather than extractive and disposable. The research contributes to the field of transitional materials design by: (1) presenting new interaction possibilities with microbial cells; (2) developing methods for designing microenvironments that sustain life and sensing; and (3) creating textile architectures that integrate textile fluidics to support designed textile biomes. Instead of relying on electronics, these textile ecologies invite new ways of thinking about care, microbiome design, and material intelligence.
Keywords
biosensors; living materials; embroidered interfaces; tangible interaction; biological computing; biodesign; material experience; microbial sensing; biomaterials; more-than-human design; material ecologies; transitional materialities
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.2613
Citation
Velho, A., Mhatre, S., Sethumadhavan, V., Tu, H., Joshi, N., and Zolotovsky, K. (2026) Can textiles be alive? Exploring transitional materialities through microbial biosensors and textile fluidics, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.2613
Creative Commons License
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Included in
Can textiles be alive? Exploring transitional materialities through microbial biosensors and textile fluidics
This paper explores materials in transition through Living Textiles, a platform that integrates genetically engineered whole-cell biosensors into textiles for on-body physiological and environmental sensing. The project investigates how textiles can act as computational and ecological systems, integrating living cells that sense their environment and communicate through material change. By combining biological sensing with textile craft, Living Textiles reframes smart materials as regenerative and cohabited rather than extractive and disposable. The research contributes to the field of transitional materials design by: (1) presenting new interaction possibilities with microbial cells; (2) developing methods for designing microenvironments that sustain life and sensing; and (3) creating textile architectures that integrate textile fluidics to support designed textile biomes. Instead of relying on electronics, these textile ecologies invite new ways of thinking about care, microbiome design, and material intelligence.