Controlled Release of Microorganisms from Engineered Living Materials

Probiotics offer therapeutic benefits by modulating the local microbiome, the host immune response, and the proliferation of pathogens. Probiotics have the potential to treat complex diseases, but their persistence or colonization is required at the target site for effective treatment. Although probiotic persistence can be achieved by repeated delivery, no biomaterial that releases clinically relevant doses of metabolically active probiotics in a sustained manner has been previously described. Here, we encapsulate stiff probiotic microorganisms within relatively less stiff hydrogels and show a generic mechanism where these microorganisms proliferate and induce hydrogel fracture, resulting in microbial release. Importantly, this fracture-based mechanism leads to microorganism release with zero-order release kinetics. Using this mechanism, small (∼1 μL) engineered living materials (ELMs) release >10⁸ colony-forming-units (CFUs) of Escherichia coli in 2 h. This release is sustained for at least 100 days. Cell release can be varied by more than 3 orders of magnitude by varying initial cell loading and modulating the mechanical properties of the encapsulating matrix. As the governing mechanism of microbial release is entirely mechanical, we demonstrate the controlled release of model Gram-negative, Gram-positive, and fungal probiotics from multiple hydrogel matrices.