Bioinspired Solutions

In this thrust, we are taking inspiration from the Living World to understand at the basic level how biology synthesizes natural materials. We aim to unveil the building blocks of biological materials and to fundamentally understand the self-assembly principles by which these blocks are put together into complex hierarchical materials. Important research directions include sequencing of protein-based materials using a combined RNA-sequencing and proteomics approach, biophysical and nanomechanical characterization of macromolecular components that make up biological materials, structural biology of these building blocks (proteins, minerals, polysaccharides), as well as establishing relationships between structure, property, and biogenesis of biological materials.

Using various single molecular and surface forces techniques, we also study the weak, dynamic, and (often) non-equilibrium interactions that govern the assembly of hierarchical assembly of different biological building blocks, including lipids, proteins, and polysaccharides. Our aim is to exploit this understanding to achieve control over materials interactions and assembly at the molecular scale, and to develop functional bio-inspired materials with multidimensional, hierarchical structures and advanced properties.

We are also active in bio-inspired manufacturing of complex materials. Research in this area comprises the exploration of established and novel 3D printing methods to copy biological strategies into synthetic materials, the use of biological materials as building blocks to engineered structures, and the fabrication of high-performance complex materials using benign environmental conditions.

Principal Investigators

Prof. Ali Miserez

Prof. Yu Jing

Prof. Hortense Le Ferrand

Green Materials and Processes

This research thrusts aims to produce structural and functional materials using green chemistry concepts, namely based on renewable and recyclable components and using aqueous-based chemistry and fabrication process that minimize environmental impact by combining biotechnology and green chemistry. The platform leverages on engineering of microbes to produce bulk green materials, ranging from cellulose to oil by converting waste (e.g. PET bottles). The expertise includes molecular biology, metabolic engineering, synthetic biology, bench-scale protein production and purification, as well as pilot-scale fermentation to manufacture protein-based materials, many of them having been discovered in our “Bioinspiration Platform. Biological functionalization is also explored to provide new properties to the green materials.

Principal Investigators

Prof. Sierin Lim

Prof. Lam Yeng Ming

Prof. Ali Miserez

Waste Valorisation

Nature recycles everything, so why shouldn’t we?

By 2050, the world is expected to generate 3.4 billion tons of waste per annum. The drastic upsurge in waste generation is driven primarily from the currently practiced linear economic system. Coupled with the rapid global population growth and urbanization, the “take-make-dispose” model is evidently unsustainable, as it imposes considerable constraints on the Earth’s resources, often at the expense of biodiversity deterioration. Conversely, a circular economy that is premised on the “waste-to-resource” paradigm can create a synergy between economic development and environmental preservation. The research carried out in the center aims to valorize several national-level priority solid waste streams such as food, plastics, incineration ash, among others into innovative value-added products. The main research topics include, but not limited to:

•Development of sustainable green chemistries to recover value from waste materials

•Derivatization of food wastes as alternate proteins source

•Sustainable biomaterials from renewable or recycled resources

•Engineering of plastic waste and incineration ash for catalysis and construction applications

•Waste derived nanomaterials

Principal Investigators

Prof. Tan Lay Poh

Prof. Dalton Tay Chor Yong

Environmental toxicology

Anthropogenic activities are increasing the amount of toxic pollutants that are released into the environment. These water or air-bone pollutants can exert a plethora of detrimental effects to human health and the natural ecosystem. To mitigate the risks would require us to adopt a proactive stance to “frontload” our toxicity assessment of these environmental contaminants. This research thrust is therefore devoted to identifying, characterizing, and preventing exposure of classical and emerging contaminants (e.g. engineered nanomaterials, microplastics, heavy metals, organic pollutants, etc), for sustainable materials and products development across their life cycle. Among the centre’s research focus are:

•Monitoring and characterizing the environmental fate and biotransformation of contaminants

•Applications of omics techniques and bioinformatics to identify biomarkers for adverse effects

•In vitro methodologies and in silico modelling development

•Advanced non-animal models for toxicity testing

•Mechanistic studies on metabolism and toxicity of contaminants

•Structure activity relationship studies to improve toxicity prediction

Principal Investigators

Prof. Lam Yeng Ming

Prof. Ng Kee Woei

Prof. Dalton Tay Chor Yong

Nanotech for food sustainability

To feed the projected population of 2050 (9.7 billion), 70% more food is required to be produced. This translates to an additional 109 million arable hectares. Since only 10% of the world’s land is arable today, major changes to traditional agriculture practices are required to significantly address this food shortage. The work that is done in the center aims to use materials platform to address various aspects in farming and food production. This includes novel materials for control delivery of nutrients, water, and pesticides. The team also looks in enhancing photosynthesis and plant health monitoring. There are also work related to development of new and green materials and growth media to reduce farming impact on environment and to reduce manpower dependence to make farming less human intensive and environmentally sustainable. This development addresses both indoor and outdoor farming. In order to increase arable land, materials can also help by targeting specifically the deficiencies ranging from water to nutrients availability. Along this line, we also look into the use of plants and materials for phytoremediation to transform non-arable land to be arable.

On the animal farming side, due to rising demand and a growing population, global meat consumption is on the rise. However, the current meat production system is one of the major drivers of environmental degradation. Animal agriculture contributes 14.5% of global greenhouse emissions and occupies 77% of earth’s habitable land to raise and feed livestock while only providing 17% of global calory supply. The production of animal-based foods is considered an inefficient system as 97% of the calories used for feeding the animals are lost in the entire process. The water consumption for livestock and associated feed crop production also severely reduces global fresh water; 29% of the total water footprint of the agricultural globally used in the production of animal-based products; out of which one-third of the global water footprint is related to beef cattle. Additionally, animal agriculture production is one of the reasons for the rising antibiotic resistance around the world as these animals are fed large amounts of antibiotics. The current way of providing meat to the feed the population is not sustainable. These problems constitute the push toward cultured meat. While cultured meat is not the answer to all problems stated above, it has the potential to alleviate the situation. One of the main challenges of cultured meat is the cost involved due to the highly complex and expensive culture mediums. Here, we focus on using materials technologies to bring down the cost of cultured meat as well as developing textured cultured meat of high organoleptic properties.

Principal Investigators

Prof. Ng Kee Woei

Prof. Dalton Tay Chor Yong

Prof. Tan Lay Poh