The United States Army has selected MIT to create lightweight molecular materials to equip foot soldiers of the future with uniforms and gear that can heal them, shield them and protect them against chemical and biological warfare.

MIT won the Army competition for the five-year, $50 million proposal for an Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies (ISN). Industry will contribute an additional $40 million in funds and equipment.

The ISN will be staffed by up to 150 people, including 35 MIT professors from nine departments in the schools of engineering, science, and architecture and planning.

In addition to MIT faculty, 80 graduate students, and 20 postdoctoral associates, the ISN will also include specialists from the Army, E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co., Wilmington, Del., Raytheon Co., Lexington, Mass.; and physicians from Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital. The two hospitals and MIT are also members of the Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology.

These researchers will develop ideas such as a uniform that is nearly invisible, soft clothing that can become a rigid cast when a soldier breaks his or her leg, and paper-weight chainmail made of molecular materials.

"Our goal is to help greatly enhance the protection and survival of the infantry soldier using nanoscience and nanotechnology," said Thomas, the Morris Cohen Professor of Materials Science and Engineering.

"This will be achieved by creating, then scaling up to a commercial level, revolutionary materials and devices composed of particles or components [often] so tiny that hundreds could fit on the period at the end of this sentence. The idea is to incorporate these nanomaterials and nanodevices into the future soldier's uniform, and associated equipage like helmets and gloves," Thomas said.

The ISN will focus on six key soldier capabilities: threat detection, threat neutralization (such as bullet-proof clothing), concealment, enhanced human performance, real-time automated medical treatment, and reduced logistical footprint (i.e., lightening the considerable weight load of the fully equipped soldier). One ISN goal is to reduce the weight of a soldier's equipment from today's 125-145 pounds to the 45 pounds carried by Roman warriors.

These themes in turn are addressed by seven research teams: energy absorbing materials, mechanically active materials for devices and exoskeletons, detection and signature management, biomaterials and nanodevices for soldier medical technology, process systems for manufacture and processing of materials, modeling and simulation, and systems integration. In addition, Raytheon, DuPont and Massachusetts General/Brigham and Women's Hospital are Founding Industrial Partners, who will work closely with the ISN and with the Army Natick Soldier Center and the Army Research Laboratory, Aberdeen, MD, to advance the science in field-ready products.

The researchers are confident that these teams will build off each other to create products with a variety of applications. For example, an "exoskeleton" for the soldier composed of such things as novel nanoparticles, electroreological fluids, and polymer actuators could not only provide ballistic protection, but also be transformed into a medical cast (on demand). Alternatively, it could be activated to create an offensive "forearm karate glove."