CAREER: Protein-integrated materials: From molecules to machines

人类生活在一个视觉世界中，其中导致颜色和颜色变化的模拟或数字信号影响着日常决策，如移动、通信和防御。在海洋中，像头足类动物（章鱼、乌贼和墨鱼）这样的软体海洋动物天生就有先进的光学器官，使它们几乎可以立即改变皮肤的颜色。该奖项由材料研究部生物材料项目颁发，旨在识别和理解鱿鱼皮肤中色素和蛋白质的作用，特别是它们如何结合并促进动态颜色感知和随后的变化。这种自下而上的方法将提供一个统一的生化、光学、电学和生理学框架来描述这些海洋动物固有的适应性着色。这项工作的结果有望启发下一代自适应和交互材料的设计，这些材料可以受益于来自头足类动物的新型色素和光子材料。该奖项包括一项综合教育计划，旨在通过课堂之外的体验式学习环境，将拟议研究中的知识、工具和联系转化为教育经验。具体来说，这项研究将产生令人兴奋的视觉内容，从海洋生物令人难以置信的伪装能力的水下镜头到对电信号（例如音乐）动态响应的台式材料演示，这些演示将用于创建专注于初中和高中教室材料设计的STEM学习模块。在课堂之外，PI将与当地女企业家一起开发和推出一系列研讨会，吸引有抱负的、对转化科学感兴趣的女本科生和研究生。最后，这项研究将支持增加女性和代表性不足的少数群体参与以可穿戴技术为重点的全国会议。虽然头足类动物多年来一直是研究的主题，但其颜色调制的基本物理和化学原理仍然没有得到很好的理解，而且创造一种模仿这种杰出能力的材料的现实仍然难以捉摸。例如，最近对头足类色素体的一项研究表明，大量的晶状体结晶蛋白被限制在纳米结构的色素颗粒中，这表明动物的眼睛和皮肤之间的功能趋同尚未被探索。这个职业奖将建立在这一令人兴奋的发现之上，现在研究这些蛋白质在伪装过程中促进信号转导的作用。具体来说，它将探索蛋白质结构对调节染色质呈现的可见颜色范围的影响，并测试它们在伪装过程中作为调节视觉反馈回路的传感器的作用。通过在体外追踪这些色素-蛋白质复合物的超分子组装的机制研究，将开发出将化学成分与颜色和图案变化联系起来的材料设计规则。此外，还将研究这些复合物作为光电节点的潜力，以促进分布式信号的发展。总之，这种多学科的方法将为自适应着色提供统一的生化、光学、电学和生理学框架，为下一代自适应和交互材料的发展提供见解。这项工作包括一个综合教育和推广部分，旨在最大限度地影响妇女和代表性不足的少数群体，从地方，大学层面到更广泛的波士顿社区和全国范围内，通过课堂之外的体验式学习环境来激励，促进和培训下一代科学家和工程师。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。

PART 1: NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY Humans live in a visual world, where analog or digital signals that lead to color and color change impact everyday decisions such as mobility, communication, and defense. In the ocean, soft-bodied marine animals like cephalopods (octopus, squid, and cuttlefish) are naturally endowed with advanced optical organs that enable them to change their skin color almost instantaneously. This award by the Biomaterials Program in the Division of Materials Research is to identify and understand the role of pigments and proteins in squid skin, specifically how they combine and contribute to dynamic color sensing and subsequent change. This bottom-up approach will provide a unified biochemical, optical, electrical, and physiological framework describing the adaptive coloration inherent to these marine animals. Results from this work are anticipated to inspire the design of next generation of adaptive and interactive materials that can benefit from new types of pigments and photonic materials derived from and inspired by cephalopods. This award includes an integrative education plan designed to leverage the knowledge, tools, and connections from the proposed research into educational experiences through experiential learning environments beyond the classroom. Specifically, this research will generate exciting visual content from underwater footage of incredible camouflage capability of marine life to bench top material demonstrations that respond dynamically to electrical signals (e.g. music) that will be used to create STEM learning modules focused on materials design for middle and high school classrooms. Beyond the classroom, the PI will develop and launch a seminar series with local female entrepreneurs to engage aspiring female undergraduate and graduate students interested in pursuing translational science. Finally, this research will support increasing participation of females and underrepresented minority groups at the national conferences focused on wearable technologies. PART 2: TECHNICAL SUMMARY While cephalopods have been a subject of research for many years, the fundamental physics and chemistry underlying their color modulation is still not well understood, and the reality of creating a material that mimics such outstanding capabilities remains elusive. For instance, a recent study of the cephalopod chromatophore revealed an abundance of lens-crystallin proteins confined within nanostructured pigment granules, indicating a functional convergence between the eyes and skin of the animals that has yet to be explored. This CAREER Award will build off this exciting finding and now investigate the role of these proteins in facilitating signal transduction during camouflage. Specifically, it will explore the influence of the protein structure on tuning the range of visible color presented by chromatophore and test their role as sensors that regulate a visual feedback loop during camouflage. Through a mechanistic study that tracks the supramolecular assembly of these pigment-protein complexes in vitro, materials design rules will be developed that link the chemical composition to changes in color and pattern. Additionally, the potential of these complexes to behave as opto-electronic nodes evolved to facilitate distributed signaling will also be studied. Together, this multidisciplinary approach will provide a unified biochemical, optical, electrical, and physiological framework for adaptive coloration, providing insights into the development of next generation of adaptive and interactive materials. This work includes an integrative education and outreach component designed to maximally impact women and underrepresented minority groups from the local, University level to the broader Boston community and national scales to inspire, promote, and train the next generation of scientists and engineers through experiential learning environments beyond the classroom.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.