SemiSynBio-II: Hybrid Biofilm Semiconductor Information Systems

非技术摘要：这个项目的目标是开发新的方法来连接电子、生物和信息，利用活的细菌群落。地球上的大多数微生物都不是以孤立的细胞形式生活的。相反，它们形成了非常复杂的群落，能够在从海底到人类肠道的几乎所有环境中茁壮成长。如果我们能将细菌群落与微电子结合起来，也许我们就能将细菌生物膜令人印象深刻的能源效率、环境弹性和多功能化学传感与现代半导体的灵活性和可编程性结合起来。该项目通过提供生物电子学和计算的跨学科课程，为高中生和本科生提供研究机会，并组织研讨会，将来自不同学科的研究人员和行业代表聚集在一起，研究电子，计算和生物学交叉领域的前沿，从而吸引更广泛的社区。这些研究目标和教育机会与现代劳动力的许多领域相关，包括计算机、生物技术和合成生物学。技术摘要：本项目探索利用细菌生物膜与半导体技术相结合的混合信息系统。微生物生物膜是具有紧急秩序的高度复杂系统，可以在各种环境中生存。最近观察到，生物膜中的枯草芽孢杆菌细胞可以利用离子通道在成千上万的单个细菌群体中传播电势波。由于下游细胞的信号再生，这些电信号模式有可能比仅通过扩散传播得更远，并且它们为连接电子和生物学的新模式提供了独特的机会。该项目的第一个目标是设计一个硬件平台，该平台将活的生物膜整合到有源定制半导体芯片上，该芯片可以感知和激活生物膜内的信号。第二个目标是研究单个生物膜内电信号和振荡的潜在机制，以及附近多个生物膜之间的信号传导。第三个目标是利用生物膜的电学特性对使用可寻址电刺激编写的抽象信息进行编码，并使用耦合生物膜振荡器的可编程网络进行混合计算。这些研究活动与跨学科教育项目的机会相结合，涉及罗德岛州缺乏服务的学生和更广泛的科学界。SemiSynBio-II项目（NSF 20-518）由美国数学和物理科学理事会（MPS）材料研究部（DMR）资助，支持探索利用细菌生物膜与半导体技术相结合的混合信息系统的研究。生物科学局（BIO）的分子和细胞生物科学部（MCB），计算机和信息科学与工程局（CISE）的计算和通信基础部（CCF），以及工程局（ENG）的电气、通信和网络系统部（ECCS）。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。

Non-technical abstract:The goal of this project is to develop new ways of connecting electronics, biology, and information using living communities of bacteria. The majority of microbes on earth do not live as solitary cells. Instead, they form remarkably complex communities which are able to thrive in nearly every environment from the bottom of the ocean to the human gut. If we can integrate communities of bacteria with microelectronics, perhaps we could combine the impressive energy efficiency, environmental resilience, and multifunctional chemical sensing of bacterial biofilms, with the flexibility and programmability of modern semiconductors. The project engages the broader community by offering interdisciplinary courses on bioelectronics and computing, providing research opportunities for high school students and undergraduates, and organizing workshops that bring together researchers and industry representatives from different disciplines to investigate frontiers at the intersection of electronics, computing, and biology. These research goals and educational opportunities are relevant to many areas in the modern workforce, including computing, biotechnology, and synthetic biology.Technical abstract:This project explores hybrid information systems using bacterial biofilms integrated with semiconductor technology. Microbial biofilms are highly complex systems with emergent order, which can survive in widely varying environments. It was recently observed that Bacillus subtilis cells in biofilms can use ion channels to propagate electrical potential waves among populations of thousands of individual bacteria. Thanks to signal regeneration by downstream cells, these electrical signaling modes have the potential to travel farther than by diffusion alone, and they offer a unique opportunity for new modes of interfacing electronics and biology. The first goal of the project is to design a hardware platform which incorporates living biofilms on active custom semiconductor chips, which can both sense and actuate signaling within the biofilms. The second goal is to study the underlying mechanisms of electrical signaling and oscillations within single biofilms, as well as signaling between multiple nearby biofilms. The third goal is to utilize the electrical properties of the biofilm to encode abstract information written using addressable electrical stimulation, and to perform hybrid computations using programmable networks of coupled biofilm oscillators. These research activities are integrated with opportunities for cross-disciplinary educational programs involving both underserved Rhode Island students and the broader scientific community.This SemiSynBio-II program (NSF 20-518) grant supports research to explores hybrid information systems using bacterial biofilms integrated with semiconductor technology with funding from the Division of Materials Research (DMR) of the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate (MPS), the Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences (MCB) of the Biological Sciences Directorate (BIO),the Division of Computing and Communication Foundations (CCF) of the Computer and Information Science and Engineering Directorate (CISE), and the Division of Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems (ECCS) of the Engineering Directorate (ENG).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.