Homeostatic System Behaviour to Engineer Resilience against Defects (B03)

• Subject Area: Preparatory and Physical Chemistry of Polymers
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 465145163

We will take the first step toward homeostatic, self-regulating behavior in self-assembling systems and resilience engineering to defects. To this end, we will design dormant self-regulatory mechanisms in material systems that are activated by an external trigger (light pulse), where the external trigger alters a system/destroys a function and the dormant redox-based self-regulatory mechanisms allow a return to the original system. We will focus on precise redox chemistry applied to systems based on peptide self-assemblies, polymer hydrogels, and DNA-based systems.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 1552: Defects and Defect Engineering in Soft Matter
• Applicant Institution: Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
• Project Heads: Professor Dr. Pol Besenius; Professor Dr. Andreas Walther