The award supports a Square-Table workshop, the second of its kind, to explore the intersection of synthetic biology, biomaterials, and soft matter. Following the success of the first workshop on Living Interfaces held in Alexandria, VA in December 2018, the theme of this workshop, Square-Table 2 (ST2), is on Programmable Interfaces. Despite significant growth over the years in the areas of synthetic biology and biomaterials / soft matter as independent subjects, there exists relatively untapped potential to harness synthetic biology for design and synthesis of novel biomaterials. Synthetic biology promises to design new functionality in natural cells (both microbial or mammalian cells) as well as constructing de novo systems from the bottom-up. Biomaterials, whether chemically synthesized, engineered, or naturally secreted by cells may have a range of biotechnology and biomedical applications. The myriad of biomaterials in the natural world, arisen from evolution and natural selection, provides a rich testbed for understanding biomaterials / soft matter design. Combined with the ability of synthetic biology approaches to program desirable biological outputs, the timing to explore the programmable interface of synthetic biology and biomaterials is fitting. Square-Table 1 (ST1) identified a need for computational capabilities to analyze materials composition-property relationship in this space and ST2 will attempt to enrich the continuing discussion at this interface by also bringing in computational modelers.
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.
