THIS GRANT IS A CONTINUATION OF N000141510034 Synthetic Biology for Advanced Functional Materials
Abstract
Living cells are natural architects in building intricate chemical and material structures withatomic precision. Accessing this capacity will require pushing genetic engineering to the scaleof genomes to enable precise control over multi-gene cellular processes. In this proposal, we willdevelop the foundational tools required to obtain a leap in the sophistication of materials that weobtain from biology. Objectives 1, 2, and 3 expand the scale of genetic programming (syntheticregulatory control of gene expression), enable the controlled differentiation of a population, andexpand the number of genes that can be simultaneously controlled, respectively. While focusedon foundational advances, each objective is built around a specific need in building functionalcomposite materials. In Objective 1, we will develop a platform that enables the complexstructures from DNA nanotechnology to be built in living cells. A genetic programminglanguage (Cello) will be expanded to enable temporal control of structural and processing genes.Objective 2 focuses on a differentiation device that couples sensors, logic gates, memory, andresource allocation to stably divide a population of cells to perform different tasks. This requiresassembling synthetic regulation on the scale of natural regulatory programs. In Objective 3, wewill build living functional materials by hacking a 3D printer to be able to print embeddedbacteria that have been engineered to produce multiple protein-based biomaterials. The printerwill be modified to enable to projection of different colors of light in order to differentiate cellsas they are being printed. Collectively, these objectives will provide the knowledge andtechnology base to enable precision genetic engineering to manufacture designed materials frommixed components (metals, polymers, lipids, and silica) with atomic resolution.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Aug 12, 2016
- Source ID
- N000141612509
Entities
People
- Christopher Voigt
Organizations
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy