Bioinspired Soft Materials

****非技术摘要****大自然就像一个精巧的工程师，能够创造出任何人造东西都无法比拟的结构和功能，比如病毒在细胞膜上不破裂的通道，高度运动的白细胞寻找和摧毁免疫原性目标的能力，或者同步跳动的纤毛场清除肺部的碎片。这个研究小组从这种生物能力中获得了灵感。他们试图揭示这些和其他显著的生物功能背后的基本设计原则，并利用这些知识来创造新一代的生物材料，这些材料被赋予了迄今为止只在活生物体中发现的特性。这项研究跨越了生物学和材料科学的交叉领域。从生物化学起源的几个特征良好的构建块开始，他们正在构建越来越复杂的结构，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：在马萨诸塞州阿克顿发现博物馆举办展览，高中生实地考察，本科生暑期研究体验，与纽约科学队合作的少数民族指导计划，基于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****该项目旨在创造仅由少数简化组件构建的新材料，但却能捕捉到活生物体中发现的显着功能。除了在材料科学研究中开辟新的方向外，这些努力还有助于阐明生物功能出现的最低要求。这一具有挑战性的努力借鉴了跨越物理和生命科学的多种互补实验和理论技术的专业知识。这群人正在合作组合基本的构建模块，如运动蛋白、DNA折纸和丝状病毒，以了解材料科学中备受追捧的仿生功能的出现，并协同设计类生命材料。他们的第一个项目“膜基材料”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构的膜材料。为了实现这一目标，他们正在利用纳米级的脂质双层和微米级的由丝状病毒或DNA折纸棒组装而成的胶体单层之间的类比。他们的第二个项目“生物活性材料”（Biological Active Materials）的目标是利用动力蛋白和单体跑步等元素力发生器，创造出典型软物质系统的活性类似物，包括凝胶、液晶、乳液和囊泡。他们从实验和理论上描述了这些材料的涌现特性，包括它们将化学能转化为机械能、进行运动和经历动态重构的能力。

****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.