The bioLogic team explored how bacterial properties can be applied to fabric and formed into living interfaces between body and environment. They found novel means of using Natto bacteria, which move in response to changes in humidity. The team harvested Natto cells and applied them to fabric with custom 3D printers.The cell-infused fabric was used to make sport garments. As the fabric reacts to perspiration, tiny vents over the body's heat zones open and close, allowing for instant cooling. In fall 2015, the suits featured in a live ballet performance.

BioLogic is conducted by an interdisciplinary team of designers, scientists and engineers. Tangible Media Group is leading the collaboration among MIT Media Lab, MIT Chemical Engineering Department and Royal College of Art. And we imagine a sustainable future with growing living actuators and synthesizing responsive bio-skin in the era where bio is the new interface. We are Imagining a world where actuators and sensors can be grown rather than manufactured, being derived from nature as opposed to engineered in factories.

bioLogic is a research team in MIT’s Tangible Media Group in the Media Lab. bioLogic has a close industrial collaboration with New Balance. In addition, the collaboration with MIT Council for the Arts and the Royal College of Art has brought artistic components to the project as well. Under the direction of Professor Hiroshi Ishii, the bioLogic team has unearthed a new behavior of the ancient bacteria Bacillus Subtilis Natto—the expansion and contraction of the natto cells relative to atmospheric moisture. Together with New Balance, bioLogic is applying this technology to creating sportswear that regulates athletes’ body temperatures, thereby enhancing performance. Beyond the industrial collaboration, a grant from the MIT Council for the Arts enabled bioLogic to invite fashion and product designers from the Royal College of Art, to bring the project to a new artistic level.