Dynamic Control of a Biohybrid Material System: Bridging the Biotic-Abiotic Interface

This project seeks to bring together research efforts at the Institute of Collaborative Biotechnologies (ICB) at UCSB and the Institute for Functional Intelligent Materials (I-FIM) at the National University of Singapore (NUS).The ICB is an interdisciplinary Army-sponsored University Affiliated Research Center that develops biologically enabled and bio-inspired technological innovations in systems and synthetic biology, advanced materials, and cognitive neuroscience.The I-FIM is a Research Center of Excellence that was launched in 2021 by the Singapore Ministry of Education with the charge of developing multicomponent materials with dynamic properties capable of learning from and responding to external stimuli. Both centers are linked by their deep expertise in biotic/abiotic systems that behave as living materials.

Building on the most recent, significant discoveries of the two teams, synergistic collaborations will be pursued in Army-relevant areas bridging the biotic-abiotic interface, potentially including bio- and biomaterial-enabled body/machine integration, photonic tunability, self-repair, signature management; energy-management, signal and environmental dynamic responsiveness; cell and body health monitoring, responsiveness, treatment delivery and actuation, and new means of non-toxic catalytic and bio-electro-catalytic syntheses for expedient manufacturing.