SBIR Phase I: Fabrication of Exotic Skin Mimics Using Additive Manufacturing

SBIR 第一阶段：使用增材制造制造异国皮肤仿制品

• 批准号: 2136802
• 负责人: Stephanie Downs
• 金额: $ 25.48万
• 依托单位: UNCAGED INNOVATIONS INC
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-12-01 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2136802&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Fabrication; Exotic; Skin

The broader impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to provide cruelty-free, safe and sustainable solutions to replace animal-sourced exotic leathers by leveraging new advances in biotechnology and additive manufacturing. The proposed project will demonstrate the feasibility of employing natural as well as synthetic components for the fabrication of exotic skins as a precursor raw material for further processing into consumer goods. Specifically, formulations composed of chemical building blocks of native animal skin will be designed, formulated, produced, and subsequently fabricated into composite leather mimics using advanced additive manufacturing platforms. If successful, the proposed efforts will lead to prototypes of engineered composite materials that reproduce the aesthetic, physical, mechanical, and performance properties of exotic leathers. Providing animal-free, sustainable, and environmentally friendly options to conventional exotic leathers can have a significant societal and environmental impact, while opening a new market and supporting growth in the leather processing and tanning industry.This project will replace conventional exotic leathers with alternatives that mimic the native structure and biochemical composition of exotic skins; recapitulate the mechanical and physical properties of the exotic leathers; and able to be manufactured using environmentally friendly, sustainable and xenofree technologies. Two critical technical challenges addressed as part of the proposed research will include engineering the architecture of exotic leathers in a bottoms-up approach by combining the relevant building blocks of exotic skins; and employing advanced manufacturing platforms to develop processes that are xenofree, sustainable and environmentally friendly. The research goal is to replicate the constituent collagen-based building blocks of the dermal matrix. Collagen fibrils of the dermal matrix are formed primarily by the triple-helix-forming polypeptide subdomains that can independently recreate the fibrillar self-assembled geometries seen with full-length collagen protein. The proposed work will use collagen and collagen-mimicking subdomains, along with other matrix molecules, to mimic the molecular and supramolecular self-assembly of fibrils in the dermal matrix to precisely control the diameter, density, and orientations of the constituent structures of leather.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛影响是通过利用生物技术和增材制造的新进展，提供无残忍、安全和可持续的解决方案，以取代动物来源的外来皮革。拟议的项目将证明采用天然和合成成分制造异国情调的皮肤作为进一步加工成消费品的前体原材料的可行性。具体而言，由天然动物皮肤的化学构建块组成的配方将被设计、配制、生产，并随后使用先进的增材制造平台制造成复合皮革模拟物。如果成功，拟议的努力将导致工程复合材料的原型，再现异国情调的皮革的美学，物理，机械和性能特性。为传统的外来皮革提供无动物、可持续和环境友好的选择，可产生重大的社会和环境影响，同时开辟新市场，支持皮革加工和制革业的增长，该项目将用模仿外来皮革的天然结构和生物化学组成的替代品取代传统的外来皮革;这种皮革具有独特的机械和物理性能，能够使用环保、可持续和无异材技术制造。作为拟议研究的一部分，解决了两个关键的技术挑战，包括通过结合异国情调皮肤的相关构建模块，以自下而上的方法设计异国情调皮革的结构;并采用先进的制造平台开发无异种、可持续和环保的工艺。研究的目标是复制真皮基质的胶原基结构单元。真皮基质的胶原原纤维主要由形成三螺旋的多肽亚结构域形成，所述亚结构域可以独立地重建用全长胶原蛋白所见的原纤维自组装几何形状。拟议的工作将使用胶原蛋白和胶原蛋白模拟子域，沿着其他基质分子，模拟真皮基质中原纤维的分子和超分子自组装，以精确控制真皮基质的直径，密度，该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响进行评估，被认为值得支持审查标准。