EAGER: (ST2) Integrating synthetic genetic regulatory networks into soft materials to orchestrate new forms of mechanical responsiveness

非技术描述：这项建议旨在开发一种粘性(粘性)凝胶，其中的化学反应感应施加在凝胶上的机械力，并相应地改变材料的粘附层，使其更容易从粘合表面剥离或移除。开发这种新方法的一个目标是创造一种新的方法，在不损害粘合剂附着的材料(如皮肤)的情况下，轻松去除脆弱组织上的粘合剂，例如用于绷带的粘合剂。在NSF赞助的Square Table-2会议上关于如何通过融合合成生物学的想法来推动材料开发的讨论的启发下，该项目将胶粘剂研究和合成生物学这两个不同的领域结合在一起，以推进并直接提高我们创造和理解医用胶粘剂的能力。该项目为2名研究生和4名本科生提供多学科培训，并将研究中产生的新发现整合到核心和选修的化学和生物分子工程课程中。主要研究人员向专业协会和艺术专业学生提供的有关这项研究的短期课程，旨在激起科学和工程界以外的人对这些材料设计方法的兴趣。技术描述：本项目研究如何利用嵌入在水凝胶中的分子力传感器来调节粘附力。该团队采用的策略包括开发分子力传感器，当对水凝胶施加预定量的压缩时，该传感器可以改变构象并暴露特定的化学结构域。然后，暴露的结构域可以与可移动的化学元素(如酶或核酸复合体)相互作用，启动下游的化学级联，导致脱粘，并最终导致分层。这项研究将材料设计、光修饰、生物分子共轭和表征结合在一起，以获得一种新的机械响应形式，并更好地了解水凝胶黏附背后的机制。此外，这项工作为一类新的生物材料奠定了基础，在这种材料中，任意复杂的刺激和任意复杂的响应由嵌入生物材料本身的分子传感器和执行器以及分子电路协调。材料研究部(DMR)的这项拨款支持将合成基因调控网络整合到软材料中的研究，以协调由数学和物理科学(MPS)总监DMR中的凝聚态物质物理(CMP)计划管理的新形式的机械响应。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Non-technical Description:This proposal aims to develop an adhesive (sticky) gel in which a chemical reaction senses mechanical force applied to the gel and, in response, alter the adhesive layer of a material to make it easier to peel or remove from the surface onto which it is bonded. One goal of developing this new method is to create a new means of easily removing adhesives on delicate tissues, such as those used for bandages, without damaging the material the adhesive is stuck to, such as skin. Inspired by discussions at the NSF-sponsored Square Table-2 meeting about how the development of materials might be advanced by incorporating ideas from synthetic biology, this project brings together two disparate fields, the study of adhesives and synthetic biology, to advance and directly improve our capabilities to create and understand medical adhesives. This project provides multi-disciplinary training for 2 graduate students and 4 undergraduate students and integrates new findings generated during the research into core and elective chemical and biomolecular engineering courses. Short courses at professional societies and to art students presented by the principal investigators about this research are designed to foment interest in these approaches to material design outside the science and engineering communities. Technical Description:This project investigates how embedded molecular force sensors in hydrogels can be employed to modulate adhesion. The strategy employed by the team involves developing molecular force sensors that change conformation and expose a specific chemical domain when a predetermined amount of compression is applied to the hydrogel. The exposed domain can then interact with mobile chemical elements (such as enzymes or nucleic acid complexes) to initiate a downstream chemical cascade that leads to debonding, and ultimately to delamination. The research combines materials design, photopatterning, biomolecular conjugation, and characterization in order to obtain a new form of mechanical responsiveness and to gain a better understanding of the mechanisms behind hydrogel adhesion. Moreover, this work lays the groundwork for a new class of biomaterials in which arbitrary and complex stimuli and arbitrary and complex responses are orchestrated by molecular sensors and actuators and molecular circuits embedded within the biomaterial itself. This Division of Materials Research (DMR) grant supports research to integrate synthetic genetic regulatory networks into soft materials to orchestrate new forms of mechanical responsiveness managed by the Condensed Matter Physics (CMP) Program in DMR of the Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) Directorate.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.