https://video.igem.org/videos/watch/a4824d31-c40b-49e5-9e42-2cf7267c2c4d Title: IRIS-Iris Revival via Inanimal Synthesis Description: For six hundred years, the blue of Dian Cui jewellery could only come from kingfisher feathers. We asked: what if colour didn't have to grow in feathers? Starting from the enzymatic hydrolysis of waste cotton textiles, a trio of engineered microbes divides the work — Komagataella phaffii degrades the fabric, Komagataeibacter xylinus spins bacterial cellulose, and E. coli toughens the film. Acid hydrolysis cuts the cellulose into nanocrystals that self-assemble into chiral nematic films dancing with light. Behind the bench, a multi-scale model — from molecular dynamics and genome-scale metabolism to thin-film optics — forms a feedback loop between visual design and manufacturing conditions. The HUST-China team presents IRIS — a multi-organism systems engineering project that lets kingfisher feathers remain where they belong, on the birds themselves, For six hundred years, the blue of Dian Cui jewellery could only come from kingfisher feathers. We asked: what if colour didn't have to grow in feathers? Starting from the enzymatic hydrolysis of waste cotton textiles, a trio of engineered microbes divides the work — Komagataella phaffii degrades the fabric, Komagataeibacter xylinus spins bacterial cellulose, and E. coli toughens the film. Acid hydrolysis cuts the cellulose into nanocrystals that self-assemble into chiral nematic films dancing with light. Behind the bench, a multi-scale model — from molecular dynamics and genome-scale metabolism to thin-film optics — forms a feedback loop between visual design and manufacturing conditions. The HUST-China team presents IRIS — a multi-organism systems engineering project that lets kingfisher feathers remain where they belong, on the birds themselves.So far, No feathers need to fall for the iridescence to rise. Wiki | Official Page Thu, 29 Oct 2026 22:22:20 GMT https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html PeerTube - https://video.igem.org https://video.igem.org/client/assets/images/icons/icon-1500x1500.png https://video.igem.org/videos/watch/a4824d31-c40b-49e5-9e42-2cf7267c2c4d All rights reserved, unless otherwise specified in the terms specified at https://video.igem.org/about and potential licenses granted by each content's rightholder.