21ENGBIO: Bioinspired manufacturing of non-Euclidean morphologies

我们周围看到的所有生物材料都是通过发育、生长和重塑的自然过程产生的。这些过程与制造的工程方法明显不同，无论是在较大规模的机械工程（例如飞机，汽车和船舶）还是较小规模的合成生物学（例如生物启发纳米材料或合成蛋白质的生产），因为大自然使用不同材料或不同生长速率的组合来创造迷人的形状。例如，叶子边缘的皱纹或水仙花熟悉的喇叭状形状是空间和时间差异生长的结果。生物和机械工程师可以使用类似的物理触发器复制生长机制，例如改变温度或化学试剂的溶胀，以制造复杂的有机形状，这些形状使用现有的工业制造工艺制造成本非常高。通过在制造过程中控制和定制不同材料的膨胀和收缩，这项研究将在非常大规模的机械工程和非常小规模的合成生物学中开辟新的制造能力。最终，这将为机械工程应用和组织工程中的新应用创造更有效的生物启发结构带来新的机会。

All biological materials we see around us are produced using the natural processes of developmental growth and remodelling. These processes differ markedly from engineering approaches to manufacturing, both at the larger scale of mechanical engineering (e.g. aircraft, cars, and ships) and the smaller scale of synthetic biology (e.g. the production of bioinspired nanomaterials or synthetic proteins) because Nature uses a combination of different materials or different growth rates to create fascinating shapes. For example, the wrinkles at the edges of leaves or the familiar trumpet-like shape of a daffodil are the result of differential growth across space and time. Biological and mechanical engineers can replicate the mechanics of growth using similar physical triggers, such as varying temperatures or the swelling of chemical agents, to manufacture complex and organic shapes that are very costly to manufacture using established industrial manufacturing processes. By controlling and tailoring the expansion and contraction of different materials during manufacturing, this research will open up new manufacturing capabilities at the very large scales of mechanical engineering and the very small scales of synthetic biology. Ultimately, this will lead to new opportunities for creating more efficient bioinspired structures for mechanical engineering applications and novel applications in tissue engineering.