This paper reports:

• The first example of synthetic living material featuring dissipative behaviors directly controlled by the fuel consumption of their constituent cells
• A synthetic dissipative system that interfaces biology and shows repeated macroscopic phase transition
• Detailed examination of kinetics of fuel consumption by living cells at a molecular level

Impact:

• This work significantly expands the scope of dissipative materials by bringing it one step closer to integration with biology.
• This work provides a new tool and knowledge to design synthetic dissipative systems with living cells.