Figure 1.

Schematic of reporter bacterium E. coli pTetR-LasR-pLuxR-GFP⁷ loaded alginate-based hydrogel microbeads and the autoinducer-triggered expression of green fluorescent protein (right). The alginate-based hydrogel beads were fabricated using the electrostatic extrusion method (left: schematic of the electrostatic extrusion setup used for microscale bead formation). Ionic cross-linking and photo-cross-linking were involved in bead formation and reinforcement, respectively.