Thinking Soils
A synthetic biology approach to material based design computation.
Project leader
Dr Martin Dade-Robertson
Dates
November 2017 to October 2021
Project staff
Dr A Wipat
Dr H Mitrani
Sponsors
EPSRC
Partners
Arup Group Ltd Cornell University
Delft University of Technology
NTNU Nor Uni of Sci & Tech
Powerbetter Environmental Processes
University of California, Berkeley
University of Waterloo, Canada
Description
The project anticipates a new era of fabrication driven by synthetic biology, and the ability to manipulate living organisms to make new materials and structures.
This project goes beyond the usual application domains of synthetic biology. It applies them to civil engineering. It expands design methods and opens them to a new area of engineering design.
The project will develop a living material which can respond to physical forces in its environment. It will do this through the synthesis of strengthening materials. This concept is partly biomimetic, inspired by how our bones strengthen.
The project proposes to build this system using living bacteria cells, which have no such functional requirement in nature.
It is working with partners from across industry and academia to develop this proof of concept.
The project will investigate the broad applications of such a technology to create self-constructing building foundations. It will also look at making large scale structures that are very difficult to build using traditional buildings and materials.