(Santa Barbara, Calif.) — Synthetic polymers — think plastic and its chemical cousins — are among the foundations of modern life. The ubiquity of such petroleum-based materials has everything to do with their combination of strength, flexibility and chemical inertness, the last being a characteristic that also makes them durable. Given the environmental impact of plastics and the fact that petroleum deposits are finite, one grand challenge is to develop new sustainable bio-based, high-performance alternatives to petroleum-based polymers. Harnessing nature to create these materials will be an enormous undertaking, requiring a dramatic change in how polymers are made.

To support such an effort, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has named UC Santa Barbara and UCLA joint partners in the BioPolymers, Automated Cellular Infrastructure, Flow, and Integrated Chemistry: Materials Innovation Platform (BioPACIFIC MIP). The five-year, $23.7 million collaboration is part of the NSF Materials Innovation Platforms (MIP) Program and has a scientific methodology reflecting the broad goals of the Materials Genome Initiative, which aims to develop new materials “twice as fast at a fraction of the cost.” BioPACIFIC MIP is one of two MIPs awarded this year, the second being led by Virginia Tech and the University of Georgia (GlycoMIP).

“We are extremely honored and pleased to have been named the lead institution in this NSF Materials Innovation Platform grant to develop novel soft materials,” said UC Santa Barbara Chancellor Henry T. Yang. “This exciting project recognizes and leverages several complementary, overlapping areas of expertise at UC Santa Barbara and UCLA, and significantly expands our existing longtime partnership established through our respective California Nanosystems Institutes. This new MIP project holds great promise in terms of addressing the grand challenge of discovering high-performing polymeric replacements for petroleum-based materials. I congratulate Director and Principal Investigator Javier Read de Alaniz, Co-PI Craig Hawker, and all of our participating colleagues, both on our campus and at UCLA, on this very proud moment.”

CONTACT:
James Badham
jwbadham@ucsb.edu
Shelly Leachman
(805) 893-8726
shelly.leachman@ucsb.edu