EFRI ELiS: Biofilm-functionalized and -maintained, living infrastructure systems

基础设施对我们国家的安全、经济福祉和健康至关重要。然而，继续使用传统的、单纯的结构材料来建造和维护基础设施在环境和财政上都是不可持续的。可持续基础设施发展是美国的一个目标，只有通过多用途建筑材料才能实现，从而降低我们建筑环境的总体能源和环境足迹。该项目通过使用被称为“生物膜”的固定化微生物群落来开发多功能且易于修复的基础设施材料，从而满足了这一国家需求。生物膜有可能满足各种基础设施需求，并改善社区和环境健康，包括通过清洁空气和水。这一融合项目将利用社会科学，通过让受到环境危害和基础设施不平等严重影响的群体参与进来，扩大参与范围，确保新技术是安全、可接受、包容和有益的。该项目的目标是：(1)结构优化基础设施材料，通过工程生命系统（即生物膜）实现多功能和按需修复；(2)通过可交换的、活的“处理”墨盒和将生物膜永久整合到基础设施中，提供功能上的灵活性；(3)通过设计改进和基于证据的沟通策略，识别并解决可能阻碍采用工程化、生活化基础设施材料的文化、社会和经济挑战。这项工作将解决有关反应输运优化、水凝胶力学和压裂、建筑材料优化和微生物群落相互作用的基础和应用问题。耦合计算支持的反应输运模型与生物膜工程实验将产生新的见解，如何控制所需的生物膜功能在基础设施。蒙大拿州立大学的两个卓越中心，生物膜工程中心和科学、技术、伦理和社会中心，将合作整合科学、技术、伦理和社会（STES）研究和科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）研究。通过开放利益相关者和技术团队之间的反馈渠道，并允许设计变更以更好地满足社区需求和期望，特别是对其最脆弱和边缘化成员的需求和期望，这种全面的创新方法将允许评估和改进变革性技术的采用。工程、生物学和社会科学结合的成果将支持国家科学基金会理解生命规则的大理念，并为国家科学基金会2026年七大创意机器主题中的四个做出贡献。该项目将与受到环境危害和基础设施不平等不成比例影响的群体（包括美国印第安人和蒙大拿州的农村人口）密切合作，并将使这些社区直接参与研究，以确保新技术是安全、可接受和有益的。扩大参与计划包括与蒙大拿州各地的部落学院建立伙伴关系，招募未被充分代表的少数民族学生，为本科生提供研究经验，并为受训者提供定期指导和专业发展机会。该项目由研究与创新前沿工程生命系统（ELiS）和促进竞争研究既定计划（EPSCoR）联合资助。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Infrastructure is essential for the safety, economic well-being and health of our nation. However, continuing to build and maintain infrastructure using traditional, solely structural materials is environmentally and financially unsustainable. Sustainable infrastructure development represents a goal for the United States that can only be met through multi-purpose building materials that lower the overall energy and environmental footprint of our built environment. This project contributes to this national need by developing multi-functional and readily repairable infrastructure materials using immobilized microbial communities called ‘biofilms’. Biofilms have the potential to meet diverse infrastructure needs and improve community and environmental health, including through cleaner air and water. This convergent project will leverage social sciences and broaden participation by involving groups that have been disproportionately impacted by environmental harms and infrastructure inequities to ensure new technologies are safe, acceptable, inclusive and beneficial.The project goals are to: (1) structurally optimize infrastructure materials to enable multi-functionalization and on-demand repair through engineered living systems (i.e., biofilms); (2) provide flexibility in functionality via exchangeable, living ‘treatment’ cartridges and through permanent integration of biofilms into infrastructure; and (3) identify and address cultural, social and economic challenges that may impede adoption of engineered, living infrastructure materials through design improvements and evidence-based communication strategies. This work will address fundamental and applied questions regarding reactive transport optimization, hydrogel mechanics and fracturing, building-material optimization, and microbial community interactions. Coupling computationally supported reactive transport modeling with biofilm engineering experiments will generate new insights on how to control desired biofilm functions in infrastructure. Two of Montana State University’s centers for excellence, the Center for Biofilm Engineering and the Center for Science, Technology, Ethics, and Society, will collaborate to integrate Science, Technology, Ethics, and Society (STES) studies and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) research. This holistic, innovative approach will allow for assessing and improving the adoption of transformative technologies by opening channels of feedback between stakeholders and the technical team and allowing for design changes to better meet community needs and expectations, particularly for its most vulnerable and marginalized members. Outcomes at the nexus of engineering, biology and social sciences will bolster NSF’s Big Idea of Understanding the Rules of Life and contribute to four of the top seven NSF 2026 Idea Machine topics. This project will work closely with groups that have been disproportionately impacted by environmental harms and infrastructure inequities (including American Indian and rural populations in Montana) and will involve these communities in the research directly to ensure new technologies are safe, acceptable, and beneficial. The Broadening Participation Plan includes partnerships with Tribal Colleges across Montana, recruitment of underrepresented minority students, research experiences for undergraduates, and recurring mentorship and professional development opportunities for trainees.This project is jointly funded by the Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation Engineered Living Systems (ELiS) and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).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.