BRITE Fellow: Rigid Engineered Living Materials

BRITE 研究员：刚性工程活性材料

• 批准号: 2342239
• 负责人: Christopher Hernandez
• 金额: $ 96.28万
• 依托单位: University of California-San Francisco
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-02-15 至 2027-02-28
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2342239&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: BRITE; Fellow; Rigid; Engineered; Living

This Boosting Research Ideas for Transformative and Equitable Advances in Engineering (BRITE) Fellow grant will establish basic scientific and design approaches needed to combine materials used in engineering applications (plastics, metals, ceramics, etc.) with living organisms (bacteria). The addition of living cells to engineering materials has the potential to instill biological traits (growth, healing, etc.) to the materials used to make vehicles, buildings, and commercial products. In particular, the ability of living cells to continuously repair a material has the potential to reduce financial and environmental costs generated when worn parts/devices are repaired or replaced. The creation of new longer-lasting materials has the potential to reduce energy needs associated with material manufacturing which are responsible for 25 percent of global carbon emissions. In addition to advancing engineering science, the work includes efforts to maintain US leadership in technology by increasing domestic engineering talent pools through broadening participation by members of underrepresented groups. Specifically, the efforts involve building a network of engineering faculty to coordinate volunteer service, mentorship and advocacy toward the long-term goal of achieving demographic parity in engineering by the US Hispanic population.Most convergent research spanning engineering and biology focuses on the use of engineering principals to address challenges in biology. In contrast, this BRITE Fellow project focuses on the transformative concept of using biological systems to address challenges in engineering. This project seeks to advance the field of Engineered Living Materials by focusing on the design and function of rigid, load carrying materials functionalized by the presence of living organisms. The project addresses the following research questions: (i) What design principles are required to maintain viability of resident cells within rigid engineered materials? (ii) What are the best ways to populate or repopulate a rigid material using living cells? (iii) What existing manufacturing techniques can be used to create materials easily populated by bacteria? and (iv) How could mechanically sensitive bacteria be used within the materials to sense mechanical damage? The research uses a naturally occurring rigid living material, bone, as a biological inspiration. Nanofluidic devices are used to identify functional design principles for channel morphology, nutrient delivery, and the utility of externally applied fluid pressure and/or mechanical loading. The findings will be applicable across several classes of rigid materials (polymers, metals, ceramics) and several types of cells researched for use in engineered living materials (bacteria, fungi, microalgae, etc.).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.

这一促进了工程学的变革性和公平进步的研究思想（BRITE）助学金将建立相结合工程应用中使用的材料（塑料，金属，陶瓷等）与活生物体（细菌）相结合的材料所需的基本科学和设计方法。在工程材料中添加活细胞有可能向制造车辆，建筑物和商业产品的材料灌输生物学特征（生长，康复等）。特别是，活细胞不断维修材料的能力有可能减少修复或更换磨损的零件/设备时产生的财务和环境成本。新的持久材料的创建有可能减少与材料制造相关的能源需求，这些材料生产造成了25％的全球碳排放。除了推进工程科学外，这项工作还包括通过扩大代表性不足的团体成员的参与来提高国内工程人才库来维持美国技术领导的努力。具体而言，努力涉及建立一个工程学院网络，以协调志愿者服务，指导和倡导，以实现美国西班牙裔人口在工程学方面达到人口统计学奇偶校验的长期目标。大多数融合的研究跨越工程和生物学的重点是工程校长来解决生物学挑战。相比之下，这个Brite其他项目的重点是使用生物系统来应对工程挑战的变革性概念。该项目旨在通过专注于通过生物的存在功能化功能化的刚性，负载材料的设计和功能来推进工程生存材料的领域。该项目解决了以下研究问题：（i）在刚性工程材料中维持居民细胞的生存能力需要哪些设计原则？ （ii）使用活细胞填充或重新填充刚性材料的最佳方法是什么？ （iii）可以使用哪些现有的制造技术来创建细菌容易填充的材料？ （iv）如何​​在材料中使用机械敏感的细菌来感知机械损伤？该研究使用一种天然存在的刚性活物质，骨头作为生物学灵感。纳米流体设备用于确定通道形态，营养递送以及外部施加的流体压力和/或机械负荷的实用性的功能设计原​​理。这些发现将适用于几类刚性材料（聚合物，金属，陶瓷）和研究用于工程生活材料的几种类型的细胞（细菌，真菌，微藻等）。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是通过基金会的知识优点和广泛效果的评估来通过评估来进行评估，并被认为是值得的。

项目成果

Make engineered living materials carry their weight

• DOI: 10.1016/j.matt.2023.07.023
• 发表时间: 2023-11-01
• 期刊: MATTER
• 影响因子: 18.9
• 作者: Heveran，Chelsea M.;Hernandez，Christopher J.
• 通讯作者: Hernandez，Christopher J.

Solute Transport in Engineered Living Materials Using Bone‐Inspired Microscale Channel Networks

使用骨启发的微尺度通道网络进行工程活性材料中的溶质运输

• DOI: 10.1002/adem.202301032
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: Advanced Engineering Materials
• 影响因子: 3.6
• 作者: van Wijngaarden, Ellen W.;Bratcher, Samantha;Lewis, Karl J.;Hernandez, Christopher J.
• 通讯作者: Hernandez, Christopher J.