Objective
The objective of the proposal is to establish the foundations of a new discipline at the intersections of Materials Science, Synthetic Biology and Computer Science: the development of Computing Biomaterials. Computing biomaterials will be able to perceive multiple input signals, to process these signals by complex computational operations and to produce a corresponding output signal. The design principle of computing biomaterials will be inspired by computer science, the molecular control elements will be derived from synthetic biology and the overall framework for the construction of biomaterials will rely on materials science.
The design principle will be hierarchical: at the basis, synthetic biology tools will act as sensor, processor and actuator. These tools will be integrated into biomaterials to build logic gates that perceive different input signals, process these signals by Boolean algebra and produce a corresponding readout. By the functional interconnected of several such gates, we will construct integrated biomaterial circuits that perform complex computational operations.
The fundamental and generally applicable design principles as established in this proposal, will enable the rapid and predictable synthesis of integrated biomaterial circuits that function as integrated sensor, processor and actuator with custom-tailored performance and will show a vast application potential in emerging disciplines like biomedicine or microsystems engineering.
Fields of science
- natural sciencesbiological sciencessynthetic biology
- natural sciencesmathematicspure mathematicsalgebra
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciences
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringsensors
- engineering and technologyindustrial biotechnologybiomaterials
Call for proposal
ERC-2010-StG_20091028
See other projects for this call
Funding Scheme
ERC-SG - ERC Starting GrantHost institution
79098 Freiburg
Germany