The number and effectiveness of these living devices is rapidly expanding. Recent examples include bacteria that are engineered to remediate chemical and oil spills, bacterial bioreactors for the generation of drugs and chemicals, and engineered plants that resists pests and disease. The number and type of these cell based machines that will be developed in the future is unknown. Bacterial and mammalian cells are incredibly efficient and compact machines that can now be designed and modified to perform the functions of our choice. We are just beginning to take advantage of these biological microdevices.
Clothing is an obvious habitat for biological micro-machines.
Clothing is specifically designed to provide a comfortable environment for living cells. There are also some obvious initial applications that a clothing based bioreactor might be able to accomplish. The control of odors in clothes and shoes could be accomplished by secretion of deodorizers of by the bacterial digestion of odor producing proteins. Water repellent coatings on jackets or shirts could be continually replenished by imbedded bacteria, or self-cleaning clothes could be envisioned in which oil and protein digesting bacteria act continuously. Limiting our thinking.