Two polymers, 0.2 wt%, no hydrogel. Bacteria settle under gravity, stop growing, keep catalyzing. Decant, refill, repeat. Works on five species without re-optimization. First paper from the group, out now in ACS Appl. Polym. Mater. pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....

Years ago, I confronted a fundamental constraint: artificial cells can produce macromolecules internally, but exporting them without rupturing the membrane has no clean solution. Biology evolved complex vesicular secretion machinery for this. We bypassed it completely.🧵👇 chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10....

Oh, to be an old-timey professor. Tenured by a handshake. Terrorize students. Publish once a decade. Ride out mentee affairs on sabbatical.

Herzlichen Glückwunsch zur Professur, Andrea Belluati! 🎉 An der TU Darmstadt forscht er künftig zu Biomaterialien, lebenden Materialien und Synthetischer Biologie – an der Schnittstelle von Chemie, Biologie und Ingenieurwesen. www.tu-darmstadt.de/universitaet... #Wissenschaft #TUDarmstadt

Happy to share that I'm starting as Assistant Professor (W1) in Biohybrid Macromolecular Materials at TU Darmstadt! Excited for this new chapter and for the science, collaborations, and ideas ahead.

New course (SoSe 2026) at @tuda.bsky.social: Synthetic Biology for Polymers & Engineered Materials. ELMs > static biomaterials: materials that sense, heal, remodel, built from genetic logic + materials design. Weds 13:30-15:10 | 3 CP | assessment: paper presentation (no sit-down exam).

As it turns out, I have a Waluigi in this world

I like to think the vesicles go DOOOING (credit: Rana Naderi)

I am fortunate to have many Iranian colleagues, mentees, and friends across Europe. Over the past month, they have shared harrowing accounts of brutal repression, stories filtering out in fragments from family and friends, or from their own experiences while trapped within the country. 1/

The soul-crushing fiction of the 1% ranking is over. I refuse to pretend I can objectively rank two equally brilliant peers. Tempted to adopt the Albigensian Crusade approach: “Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius.” Top marks for all. The Lord will know his own. ⚔️⚖️

Excited to launch the digital home of the Belluati Lab! belluatilab.com At @tuda.bsky.social , we bridge the gap between molecules & life via bottom-up #SynBio. From artificial cells to #ELM, we build to understand. Big thanks to @dfg.de & AYI for the support! Happy holidays!

Biohybrid Macromolecular Materials

Biohybrid Macromolecular Materials

belluatilab.com

What's the cost of German bureaucracy? For a DAAD PhD, it's 6 months of waiting for a visa, then €350 per semester just to get basic student privileges (like a login and transportation!). We can't claim to be a research powerhouse and then treat international scholars this way. #DAAD

October 8: fancy new plate reader is delivered, yay! October 17: pipes in the room of the fancy new plate reader burst, fancy new plate reader is flooded.

Amazing Life - Inspired Functional Assembly Workshop at Harbin Institute of Technology. Thank you so much for the invitation, Dietmar Appelhans and Xin Huang, it was great to listen and discuss with our Chinese colleagues!

And it's a wrap for my talk at European Federation of Biotechnology - Designer Biology in Newcastle, where I showed biologists how can artificial cells imitate real ones, just worse!

New elective at @tuda.bsky.social (WiSe 25/26): Macromolecular Systems for Drug Delivery. Polymer architectures, nanocarriers & translation to biomedical applications. Excited to teach this in the new Master’s program!

Honoured to have presented our recent work on polymeric artificial cells at @epf2025.bsky.social in Groningen. The audience was spread out but locked in!

On my way to @epf2025.bsky.social , DB has already changed my train and itinerary twice. If the Heavens support me, I'll eventually be in Groningen for a week of science!

We're seeking a postdoc to apply for the DAAD PRIME fellowship (18 months: 12 in Padova with Prof. Francesca Lorandi, 6 in Darmstadt with me) to work on an interdisciplinary project combining polymer brush chemistry and engineered yeast cells for heavy metal remediation 🧵

Yesterday I had the pleasure to present my research of the past couple of years at APME 2025 in Catania

Nice try, phishers, as if my university's administration would ever do anything without paper!

21/02/2025 11 AM: be rejected for a grant 1 PM: your student achieves a preliminary result that would have made your proposal basically reviewer-proof.

Me, a Spaniard, looking at the research cuts proposed in the US:

I'm happy to share this roadmap towards the synthesis of life! It is the result of one of the best workshops I ever attended, where scientists across biology, chemistry, and physics came together to map out the key challenges to synthesize life. Enjoy! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

A roadmap toward the synthesis of life

The synthesis of life from non-living matter has captivated and divided scientists for centuries. This bold goal aims at unraveling the fundamental pr…

sciencedirect.com

It’s out!😃 2 years ago, I organized a workshop with @WebersGroup and @KGoepfrich on how to build Life. We discussed with leading scientists by day and wrote up our discussions in the eves. The "Roadmap Towards Synthetic Life" is now out in Chem! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

A roadmap toward the synthesis of life

The synthesis of life from non-living matter has captivated and divided scientists for centuries. This bold goal aims at unraveling the fundamental pr…

sciencedirect.com

My spider-sense keeps hinting that any paper title since 2023 that is "Meaningless Short Title: Longer Explanation" was created using ChatGPT.

Im Video: Der TU-Biotechnologe @andreabelluati.bsky.social arbeitet im Forschungsvorhaben „CoM2Life“ daran, künstliche und lebende Zellen miteinander zu verbinden. "CoM2Life" ist eines der Projekte, mit denen sich die TUDa um einen Exzerllenzcluster bewirbt. www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ePi...

Hybride Systeme: Dr. Andrea Belluati über künstliche und lebende Zellen | CoM2Life Interview

YouTube video by Technische Universität Darmstadt

youtube.com

Happy new year everyone, and some great news! We have an opening for a PhD candidate to join our lab @cebcambridge.bsky.social in October 2025 as part of the new exciting MSCA Doctoral Network @comeincell.bsky.social jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/49240/

Happy to end the year with the News and Views of @bruns-lab.bsky.social and I in @naturecatalysis.bsky.social , discussing about the great work of Prof Wu! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Polymer-decorated bacteria for cascade catalysis - Nature Catalysis

Polymer/whole-cell hybrid catalysts were created by synthesizing catalytically active polymers from the surface of Escherichia coli cells that recombinantly expressed enzymes. The surface-engineered b...

nature.com

TWO PhD opportunities to join my group on the new CDT in Engineering Solutions for Antimicrobial Resistance! Synthetic cells and DNA nanotechnology 🧬🦠🧑‍🔬 - Project details below Open Day 18th December 11 am Application Deadline 26th January 2025 #chemsky 🧪 www.findaphd.com/phds/program...

FindAPhD : 10 fully funded 4-year PhD studentships at the EPSRC and BBSCR Centre for Doctoral Training in Engineering Solutions for Antimicrobial Resistance at University College London

Apply for a PhD: 10 fully funded 4-year PhD studentships at the EPSRC and BBSCR Centre for Doctoral Training in Engineering Solutions for Antimicrobial Resistance at University College London

findaphd.com