Brains works with individuals and organizations to start and run ambitious research programs at the vanguard of 21st century science.

The core of the program is a four-month fellowship that jump-starts scientists starting coordinated research programs.

Natural materials, like spider silk, dramatically outperform synthetic materials in multiple dimensions. It might be possible to build systems that use the same mechanisms as biology to build high performance fibers and materials that are currently unachievable while simultaneously making existing processes more sustainable.

Nanomodular electronics is creating a new process for manufacturing microelectronics that are customizable down to the transistor, use a plethora of materials, and can be made on-demand without etching silicon or requiring a massive, expensive facility. By creating tiny, modular components separately from laying them down and wiring them together, we could make custom microelectronics as easily as printing this document.

By pulling enzymes, substrates, and cofactors out of organisms and into a bioreactor, we can take advantage of metabolic pathways to sustainably convert harvested sugar or even carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into useful molecules quickly and efficiently instead of deriving them from petroleum. This program aims to expand the scale and scope of cell-free manufacturing, both of which are currently limited.

Molecular additive manufacturing is creating heterogeneous materials whose structures can be specified down to nanoscale building blocks, potentially enabling us to engineer structures we depend on biology for today. By templating a precise pattern of covalently bonded proteins, polymers, and inorganic molecules, we could create powerful catalysts, membranes to easily filter water, and take the first steps on the path towards atomically precise manufacturing.