Buildings and construction account for about 40% of carbon emissions. With heating, cooling, ventilation, and lighting demanding large amounts of energy, bacterial shading looks into the possibilities of using light-sensitive E. coli to produce pigmentation that can provide shading and reduce cooling loads in buildings. ​

The specific goals of this research include constructing a photoreceptive genetic circuit in E.coli, designing and fabricating a millifluidic chemostat to maintain cell viability, and define fabrication strategies that allow for the integration of the millifluidic light sensing bacteria into glass building enclosures.