Team:Newcastle/cracks in concrete

Reasons Cracks are bad!

1. Allows water to reach and corrode steel reinforcements
2. Weakens concrete structures
3. Difficult to repair

Work in this area has already been started: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyBR3PDPa-c Bio-concrete]

This project is different to ours in that it cannot repair existing structures and bacillus subtilis cells only remain viable in the bio-concrete for a short period of time. This is not a concern for our project as we don't want the cells to survive for long periods of time, just long enough to fix the crack!

How our project helps

1. Reduces corrosion rate of the steel reinforcements
2. Reduces the need to demolish and rebuild concrete structures
3. Reduces cement production

How our project is novel

1. Filamentous cells- like steel fibers
2. Getting the Bacteria to produce the gel/glue that holds it all together.
3. Environmental kill switch
4. We are working with a well known strain Bacillus subtilis 168 (previous work required specific stains)