Growing structural proteins into advanced materials for food security

Benedetto Marelli, PhD

Associate Professor

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Applications of robotics and sensing technologies, big data analysis and biotechnologyin farming, plant and food science are highly

sought to guarantee global food security while mitigating the environmental impact of agriculture. In this scenario, the potential benefit

of applying materialsscience principles to enhance food security remains underexplored when compared to material-based research

efforts in biomedicine, energy and optoelectronics. In this seminar, we highlight recent development in the nanomanufacturing of

structural proteins to engineer a new generation of advanced materials that can be interfaced with food and plants. We will

presentnewly developed techniques to direct the assembly of structural proteinsinto nanostructured, hierarchicalmaterials that can

serve as:ediblecoatings to prolong the shelf-life of perishable food, microenvironments to boost seed germination in marginal landand

injectorsto precisely deliver payloads in plant vasculature. These examples will provide an opportunity to discuss how the establishment

ofa successful interface between biomaterials and plantstissuesrequires the development of a basic scientific knowledge on:mechanics

of disorderto ordertransitions in proteinaceous materialsduring condensation phenomena, fluid mechanics and transport phenomena in

plants vasculature, and swellingof porous materials exposed to plant fluids.