Bioinspired Soft Materials

*非技术摘要*大自然扮演着一个精致的工程师的角色，能够创造出任何人造的东西都无法比拟的结构和功能，比如病毒不会破裂地通过细胞膜，高度能动的白细胞寻找并摧毁免疫原目标的能力，或者同步跳动睫状场清除肺中的碎片。这个研究团队从这样的生物能力中获得灵感。他们试图揭示这些和其他显著生物功能背后的基本设计原则，并利用这一知识创造出新一代生物材料，这些材料具有迄今仅在活体中发现的特性。这项研究跨越了生物学和材料科学之间的界面。从生化起源的几个特征良好的构件开始，他们正在构建日益复杂的结构，以确定哪些组件是出现所需的生物功能所必需的。该项目开展了一个多层次的推广和教育计划，围绕一系列关键活动展开：马萨诸塞州阿克顿发现博物馆展览、高中生实地考察、本科生暑期研究体验、与纽约科学中心合作的少数民族辅导计划、基于该项目共享设施的高级实验技术暑期课程，并为研究生和博士后提供职业发展机会。*技术摘要*这个项目寻求创造新的材料，这些材料只由几个简化的组件组成，但却能捕捉到活着的有机体中的非凡功能。除了在材料科学研究中开辟新的方向，这些努力还有助于阐明生物功能出现的最低要求。这项具有挑战性的努力利用了横跨物理科学和生命科学的各种和互补的实验和理论技术方面的专业知识。这群人正在合作结合基本的构建块，如马达蛋白、DNA折纸和丝状病毒，以了解在材料科学中非常受欢迎的仿生功能的出现，并协同设计仿生材料。他们的第一个项目-基于膜的材料-的目标是揭示细胞用来塑造和重新配置膜的设计原则，并应用这些原则来设计异质和可重新配置的膜材料。为了实现这一点，他们正在利用纳米级脂质双层和微米级胶体单层之间的类比，这些胶体单层是由丝状病毒或DNA折纸棒组装而成的。他们的第二个项目，生物活性材料，的目标是使用基本力发生器，如马达蛋白质和单体踏板，创建典型软物质系统的活性类似物，包括凝胶、液体晶体、乳剂和囊泡。他们正在从实验和理论上描述这种材料的紧急特性，包括将化学能转化为机械功、执行运动和进行动态重新配置的能力。

****Nontechnical abstract****Nature acts as an exquisite engineer capable of creating structures and functionalities that are unmatched by anything manmade, such as the rupture-free passage of a virus through a cellular membrane, the ability of a highly motile white blood cells to seek and destroy an immunogenic target, or synchronously beating ciliary fields clearing debris from a lung. This research team draws inspiration from such biological capabilities. They seek to uncover the fundamental design principles underlying these and other remarkable biological functions, and to use this knowledge to create a new generation of biomaterials that are endowed with properties heretofore found only in living organisms. The research straddles the interface between biology and materials science. Starting from a few well-characterized building blocks of biochemical origin, they are building structures of increasing complexity to determine which components are required for the emergence of desired biological functionality. The project runs a multi-level outreach and education program, structured around a set of key activities: exhibits at the Discovery Museums of Acton, MA, field trips for high school students, a summer Research Experience for Undergraduates, minority mentoring program in conjunction with the Science Posse of New York, summer courses in advanced experimental techniques based on the project's shared facilities and provides career development opportunities for graduate students and post-doctoral fellows. ****Technical abstract****This project seeks to create new materials that are constructed from only a few simplified components, yet capture the remarkable functionalities found in living organisms. In addition to opening new directions in materials science research, these efforts serve to elucidate the minimal requirements for the emergence of biological function. This challenging endeavor draws on expertise in diverse and complementary experimental and theoretical techniques that span the physical and life sciences. This group of individuals are collaborating to combine elemental building blocks, such as motor proteins, DNA origami and filamentous virus, to understand the emergence of biomimetic functionalities that are highly sought-after in materials science and to synergistically engineer life-like materials. The goal of their first project, Membrane based Materials, is to uncover the design principles that cells use to shape and reconfigure membranes, and to apply these principles in order to engineer heterogeneous and reconfigurable membrane materials. To accomplish this they are exploiting the analogy between nanometer-sized lipid bilayers and micron-sized colloidal monolayers assembled from filamentous viruses or DNA origami rods. The goal of their second project, Biological Active Materials, is to create active analogs of quintessential soft matter systems including gels, liquids crystals, emulsions and vesicles using elemental force generators, such as motor proteins and monomer treadmilling. They are experimentally and theoretically characterizing the emergent properties of such materials, including their ability to convert chemical energy into mechanical work, perform locomotion, and undergo dynamical reconfiguration.