Project description
Light moves synthetic bacteria and could control the speed of future miniature cargo trucks
Nature is perhaps the greatest engineer of all time. Scientists strive to mimic natural phenomena and benefit from their inherent efficiency and simplicity. Self-propelled colloids, a type of synthetic active matter similar to self-propelled bacteria, are among the many accomplishments. In addition to the synthetic machinery for motion, scientists have also identified the genetic components required to impart responsiveness to the environment. SYGMA is using the genetic building blocks of functional properties to create light-controllable active matter. Engineered photoreceptors sensitive to red, green, and blue much like cones in the retina will be linked to cellular processes that modulate things like speed, growth, and death. Light control of fleets of mini cargo transporters could be around the corner.
Objective
From a Physics and Engineering standpoint, swimming bacteria are a formidable example of self-propelled micro-machines. Together with their synthetic counterpart, self-propelled colloids, they represent the “living” atoms of active matter, an exciting branch of contemporary soft matter and statistical mechanics. Differently from synthetic colloids, however, each bacterial cell contains all the molecular machinery that is required to self-replicate, sense the environment, process information and compute responses. Breaking down these biological functions into basic genetic parts has been one of the greatest triumphs of molecular biology. Today, synthetic biologists are assembling these parts into new genetic programs and exploiting bacteria as computing micro-machines.
Project SYGMA will employ the synthetic biology toolkit to provide the building blocks for a light controllable active matter having reliable, reconfigurable and interactively tunable dynamical properties. We will first engineer transmembrane photoreceptors to wire RGB external light signals to cellular physical responses like speed, tumbling, growth and death rates. These genetic parts will allow the modular design of customized active particles to build active materials with unprecedented optical control capabilities. Using these new tools we will address, with experiments and theory, fundamental questions like: how fast can we drive particle density using spatio-temporal motility modulations? what is the force on a body suspended in a bath of bacteria with non uniform motility? how do physical forces contribute to morphogenesis in bacterial colonies? Finding quantitative and experimentally validated answers will eventually allow us to engineer structured illumination protocols to mold living microstructures, transport colloidal cargos by shaping active pressure, control swarms of biohybrid microcars and shape bacterial microcolonies.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology bacteriology
- natural sciences physical sciences condensed matter physics soft matter physics
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
ERC-ADG - Advanced Grant
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2018-ADG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
00185 Roma
Italy
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