Rae Robertson-Anderson is leading a team of researchers who were recently awarded a $1.8 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to design and create next-generation materials inspired and empowered by biological cells. Funding for the project begins on October 1.

 

Robertson-Anderson will be working alongside a team of physicists, biologists and engineers, four of whom are women, including: Prof. Megan Valentine at the University of California Santa Barbara, Prof. Jennifer Ross at Syracuse University, Prof. Michael Rust at the University of Chicago and Prof. Moumita Das at Rochester Institute of Technology. 

 

The team’s goal is to create self-directed, programmable, and reconfigurable materials -- using biological building blocks including proteins and cells --- that are capable of producing force and motion. This research could pave the way for future materials applications ranging from self-healing bridges and self-propulsive materials to programmable micro-robotics, wound healing and dynamic prosthetics.

 

 Please access the news release here