SBIR Phase I: Aerogels Derived from Genetically Engineered Microbial Cells

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是为每年超过500亿美元的建筑保温行业开发绿色保温材料。这些材料将(i)具有高r值，（ii）安装安全，（iii）不需要有毒化学和化石燃料原料，（iv）减少温室气体（GHG）排放，以及(v)在美国安全生产。通过开发新的生物技术工具来制造这些材料，该项目将推动节能和材料科学领域的发展，并发展生物经济。这种新材料将是最著名的绝缘材料气凝胶的可持续生物生长版本。作为极好的绝缘体，这些生物气凝胶需要很少的能量来生产，将减少温室气体的排放。由于无毒，这种材料的制作和安装将更加安全。使用本地采购的材料生产将确保在SARS-CoV-2大流行中暴露出的脆弱供应链。这些材料将有助于满足对绿色建筑材料日益增长的需求。例如，能源与环境设计领导力（LEED）认证的建筑拥有优质的新建和转售价格，2007年不到300个认证增长到2018年的67,000多个。利用基因工程细菌，SBIR一期项目将开发一种全新的气凝胶材料，这种材料是细菌纤维素（BC）和形成纳米级空气腔的结构的复合材料。这种方法可以避免传统气凝胶生产过程中需要的超临界干燥，因为它需要高温和高压，这是一个昂贵且能源密集型的过程。这些生物气凝胶材料将具有与传统气凝胶相当的优异的绝缘性能（即高r值），成本仅为传统气凝胶的一小部分。为了制造用于隔热的生物气凝胶，该项目计划：(1)优化组件（BC和纳米级空腔结构）的生产，(2)使用基因工程工具将组件合并以创建生物衍生气凝胶，(3)创建合成基因网络，赋予生物气凝胶具有建筑隔热材料所需的疏水性和阻燃性能。该项目将在一个易驯化的有机体中使用基因的异源表达，并对这些基因进行系统调整，以实现其雄心勃勃的目标。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。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is development of green insulation materials for the over $50 billion-per-year building insulation industry. These materials will (i) have high R-values, (ii) be safe to install, (iii) not require toxic chemical and fossil fuel feedstocks, (iv) reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and (v) be produced securely in the United States. By developing new biotechnology tools to make these materials, this project will advance the fields of energy conservation and material science and grow the bio-economy. The new materials will be sustainable, biologically grown versions of the best known insulation materials called aerogels. As excellent insulators requiring little energy to produce, these biological aerogels will reduce GHG emissions. Being non-toxic, the materials will be safer to make and install. Production with locally-sourced materials will secure vulnerable supply chains revealed by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. These materials will help meet increasing demand for green building materials. For example, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified buildings command premium new and resale prices, with under 300 certifications in 2007 growing to over 67,000 in 2018. Using genetically engineered bacteria, this SBIR Phase I project will develop an entirely new aerogel material that is a composite of bacterial cellulose (BC) and structures forming nanoscale cavities of air. This approach will circumvent the supercritical drying needed in the production of conventional aerogels, which is an expensive and energy intensive process because it requires high temperatures and high pressures. These biological aerogels materials will have excellent insulation properties comparable to conventional aerogels, (that is, high R-values) produced at a fraction of the cost. To create biological aerogels for insulation, the project plan is to (1) optimize production of the components (BC and nanoscale cavity structures), (2) use genetic engineering tools to merge the components to create a biologically-derived aerogel, and (3) create synthetic gene networks to endow the biological aerogel with hydrophobicity and fire-retardant properties needed for a building insulation material. The project will employ heterologous expression of genes in a tractable organism and systematic tuning of those genes to achieve its ambitious goals.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.