BRITE Pivot: Breaking Down Plastic with Biology: A Multi-Scale Framework For Mechanics-Driven Plastic Biodegradation Modeling

Regents Of The University Of Michigan - Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor MI

Investigators

Abstract

The plastic industry is a multi-billion-dollar enterprise poised to expand even in light of growing knowledge and public concern about the harm its industrial lifecycle places on the environment, ecology, our health, and by extension on society in general. Working towards a future free from plastic pollution requires a multi-pronged approach across disciplines, industries, and scales. The PI of this Boosting Research Ideas for Transformative and Equitable Advances in Engineering (BRITE) award researches a novel pivot from mechanics to ecology and environmental biology and back to mechanics to infuse state of the art biological knowledge and tools into the study of the bio-macromolecular interface. This pivot will create new knowledge in the area of microbe-mediated biodegradation of polymers. With this knowledge, new degradation strategies for effectively recovering monomers and materials precursors for recycling could be explored. Furthermore, this project will deepen our understanding of how plastics persist in the environment, as well as provide a foundation for classifying the fate of more ecofriendly materials as they emerge. Beyond the expected educational impacts on workforce development, training, and coursework, a number of unique activities are researched, namely, immersive research through the UM Biological Station at Douglas Lake, a Research Table at the Museum of Natural History, graduate student participation in the Science Communication Fellow program, and targeted recruitment efforts from the NSF funded Michigan Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation. This BRITE Pivot will generate fundamental knowledge in the area of bio-macromolecular mechanics and deliver a user-friendly predictive model of polymer biodegradation. Specific innovations include: 1) the creation of a simulation-driven kernel to guide the design of biodegradable materials and advance our understanding of structure-property-performance relationships of degradation due to biotic factors, and 2) the demonstration of a user-friendly bio-chemo-mechanical model framework that will predict the degradation times of a range of polymers and enzymes. Whereas the PI has molecular dynamics expertise in simulating the mechanical behavior of crosslinked polymers and has developed electro-chemo-mechanical models in the past, this project researches a pivot into Biology to leverage state-of-the-art tools and knowledge about enzymatic processes and biodegradation. This new disciplinary perspective will be infused into the bio-chemo-mechanical modeling framework in an effort to improve the predictive capability and expand the usefulness and potency of the model. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.