The NSF BioPACIFIC MIP (DMR-1933487) merges advances in synthetic biology and synthetic chemistry by providing access to scientific expertise, multiscale computation and simulation for materials design, and advanced instrumentation capabilities to enable data-driven discovery and scalable production of bio-derived building blocks and polymers from yeast, fungi and bacteria, and the conversion of these blocks into next-generation polymers with properties and performance far exceeding those currently available in materials produced through traditional petrochemical-based methods.

BioPACIFIC MIP operates a one of a kind user facility dedicated to creating a nexus for synthetic biology and materials. Users are uniquely able to elucidate biomaterial structure and function to achieve materials-by-design, construct new bio-derived functional monomers from living organisms, access novel sequence-specific materials (e.g. peptoids), synthesize stimuli-responsive “smart” biomaterials, scale-up biomaterial production, and incorporate state-of-the-art field-theoretic simulation and machine learning algorithms.

In all cases, this platform is made possible by the unique and collective expertise of the BioPACIFIC MIP faculty and staff. BioPACIFIC MIP facilities are open to all US scientists via a peer-reviewed User Proposal process.