Stiff, strong, porous, low-density materials for infrastructure applications.

• Technical achievement: Enable detailed characterization and greater control of material properties of biologic components.
• Technical achievement: Enable biologically-driven tailorability of materials for infrastructure.
• Technical achievement: Design durable, porous, self-repairing surface coatings (e.g., asphalt replacements) to reduce flooding.

Cross-laminated biofilms and wood-like materials.

• Technical achievement: Enable greater cellulose secretion with controlled crystallinity to impart reinforcement/toughness in response to specific cues.
• Technical achievement: Engineer specialized lignin that better interacts with adhesives.

Materials that can actively adapt to changing environmental conditions.

• Technical achievement: Engineer radiation-resistant materials, such as by incorporating Deinococcus radiodurans or enabling radiation-resistance in other microbes, to enhance weatherability.¹Daly, M.J., Gaidamakova, E.K., Matrosova, V.Y., Vasilenko, A., Zhai, M., Leapman, R.D., Lai, B., Ravel, B., Li, S.M., Kemner, K.M., & Fredrickson, J.K. (2007). Protein oxidation implicated as the primary determinant of bacterial radioresistance. PLoS Biology, 5(4), e92. View Publication
• Technical achievement: Protein-based materials that can store and release heat reversibly could be used to melt snow/ice (e.g., ice-structuring and ice-nucleating proteins).

Footnotes

1. Daly, M.J., Gaidamakova, E.K., Matrosova, V.Y., Vasilenko, A., Zhai, M., Leapman, R.D., Lai, B., Ravel, B., Li, S.M., Kemner, K.M., & Fredrickson, J.K. (2007). Protein oxidation implicated as the primary determinant of bacterial radioresistance. PLoS Biology, 5(4), e92. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.0050092