Project Grant 2627330

The National Science Foundation Division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation awarded the Regents of the University of Michigan $199,998 on September 1, 2026, to develop and validate a framework for collaborative sequential experimentation in bio-additive manufacturing systems.

The research addresses the challenge of designing biologically relevant products—including resorbable tissue scaffolds for nerve repair—by developing methods that enable multiple printers, laboratories, and organizations to learn from one another during experimentation while protecting proprietary data and intellectual property. Material formulation, part geometry, printing conditions, and post-processing all influence whether a scaffold achieves required shape, strength, and degradation behavior; individual trials demand substantial time, specialized equipment, and costly testing. The framework establishes four connected tasks centered on consensus-based optimal design, enabling each participating facility to learn a local surrogate model and identify candidate experiments while steering all participants toward experiments closer to optimal solutions by borrowing strength across collaborators.

The award funds research and education activities including software and data publicly available to industry and academic audiences, demonstrations, and new course modules on collaborative experimentation and bio-additive manufacturing. The work supports the efficient development of regenerative medicine products and helps United States manufacturers improve quality with fewer resources.

Performance of work occurs in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with a period of performance from September 1, 2026, through August 31, 2029. The Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) provides this project grant assistance.