Monsur Islam | Searcharxiv

arXiv2026

Can we teach generative artificial intelligence the design language of engineered living materials?

This study presents a versatile ontology and a useful codification scheme for describing all kinds of engineered living materials (ELMs). The different components of the ontology, namely: families according to the taxonomy for ELMs, industrial applications and synthesis or processing methods, are systematically organized, enumerated, classified, codified and explained. The methodic application of the ontology to a set of 100 relevant examples of ELMs helps to demonstrate its utility and adaptability to many different types of ELMs with a wide range of industrial applications and obtained through numerous synthesis and processing methods. This proves that the developed ontology and codification schemes, with the glossary provided to support its implementation and application, can serve as a comprehensive classification tool for the emergent field of ELMs. Furthermore, the usability of the ELMs ontology and codification by a generative artificial intelligence (AI) is explored and validated by different means, checking that both natural language and the codification are understandable for describing ELMs, verifying that the generative AI adequately codifies examples of ELMs according to the ontology, and validating the synergic applicability of the ontology and codification with generative AI tools for illustrating novel ELMs and supporting their conceptual design. This study is expected to provide a universal language to facilitate communication in the ELMs field and to foster the discovery of new ELMs and related innovations, hoping it may accelerate scientific and technological discoveries.

physics.bio-ph↗

arXiv2021

Taxonomy for Engineered Living Materials

Engineered living materials (ELMs) are the most relevant contemporary revolution in materials science and engineering. These ELMs aim to outperform current examples of "smart", active or multifunctional materials, enabling countless industrial and societal applications. The "living" materials facilitate unique properties, including autonomy, intelligent responses, self-repair, and even self-replication. Within this dawning field, most reviews and documents have divided ELMs into biological ELMs, which are solely made of cells, and hybrid living materials, which consist of abiotic chassis and living cells. Considering that the most relevant feature of living material is that they are made of (or include) living cell colonies and microorganisms, we consider that ELMs should be classified and presented differently, more related to life taxonomies than materials science disciplines. Towards solving the current need for the classification of ELMs, this study presents the first complete proposal of taxonomy for these ELMs. Here, life taxonomies and materials classifications are hybridized hierarchically. Once the proposed taxonomy is explained, its applicability is illustrated by classifying several examples of biological ELMs and hybrid living materials, and its utility for guiding research in this field is analyzed. Finally, possible modifications and improvements are discussed, and a call for collaboration is launched for progressing in this complex and multidisciplinary field.

physics.bio-ph↗