WikiCells

WikiCells: Bottles That We Eat

David Edwards , Founding Core Faculty Member, Wyss Institute; University Gordan McKay Professor of the Practice of Biomedical Engineering, Harvard School of Engineering & Applied Sciences; Founder and Director, Le Laboratoire in Paris, France

WikiCells are novel edible forms for eating and drinking transportable foods and drinks without plastic. Useful as foods and drinks for restaurants, homes, and offices, for delivery to and purchase in stores, and for production and delivery to places in the world where the recycling and disposal of plastic produces a major human and environmental hazard--WikiCells emerged out of an idea funded initially by the Wyss Institute in David Edwards ES20 class (specifically realized in the design of the recently commercial CellBag), and, later, a design exhibition at Le Laboratoire in Paris with French designer Francois Azambourg and Wyss Institute Founding Director Don Ingber. From the early inspiration of the biological cell, the technology has since evolved as a food product technology within LaboGroup, the commercial incubator of ArtScience Labs, with initial commercial sales and development in the FoodLab. WikiCells consist of a natural food membrane held together by electrostatic forces and containing a liquid, emulsion, foam, or solid food substance possibly within an edible or biodegradable shell. They can be produced by consumers with a WikiCell Machine in a practically inexhaustible variety of membranes and forms and with a wide range of food and drinks. WikiCells use special membrane technology that permits the fabrication of thin delicious membranes with significant water diffusional resistance and adjoined shells that allow for stability of the WikiCells over long periods of time.

Speaker Biography:

David Edwards combines the logic of science with the creativity of art to develop technological advances, design solutions, and arts partnerships. He founded and directs Le Laboratoire in Paris, which brings artists and scientists together to develop new innovations. Inspired by the water efficiency of a cell, Le Laboratoire and the Wyss recently collaborated to create new ways to transport water. One result was the CellBag, a safe and ecologically sustainable way to carry water as Nature does, without harming the environment. The CellBag helps people carry water in multiple ways without undue physical stress, and it can shrink or expand to handle different amounts, even filtering water as needed. There is no waste. In the Programmable Nanomaterials Platform, David's research concerns the mathematical design of novel physical parameters that allow nanostructured materials to efficiently deliver drugs and vaccines to human organs. His laboratory is developing new antibiotic therapies for tuberculosis and a new delivery platform for needle-free childhood vaccines. He holds many patents in drug delivery and cofounded Medicine in Need (MEND) to translate his research into clinical practice. MEND develops and manufactures affordable and effective vaccines and therapies suitable for widespread use despite the logistical constraints of the developing world. David is the Gordon McKay Professor of the Practice of Biomedical Engineering at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, a member of the American and French National Academies of Engineering, and a three-time recipient of the Ebert Prize of the American Pharmaceutical Association. In 2008, he was made a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture. David is the author of two novels, inventor of the culinary innovation Le Whiff, and co-inventor of the ecological air filter Andrea. http://people.seas.harvard.edu/~dedwards/

Host:

Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University