Chappell, JamesFrow, EmmaKamat, NehaMatthews, KirstinMontclare, JinSilberg, JonathanSonkusale, SameerTran, LesaWilson, Corey2024-05-232024-05-235/4/2024Chappell, J., Frow, E., Kamat, N. et. al. (2024). Frontiers in Programming Living Systems: Hybrid Cell-Material Systems for Real-Time Sensing and Actuating. https://doi.org/10.25611/3fd7-pz22https://hdl.handle.net/1911/116259This report reviews the findings from a workshop that occurred in August 2023 at Rice University on the topic of living sensor and actuator systems that seek to protect our health and planet. The workshop activities sought to identify current needs for innovations to advance the creation of living sensors and actuators that protect our communities and support a circular economy as we face increasing environmental and health challenges. The workshop largely focused on considering technological needs associated with known threats and emerging threats that are driven by anthropogenic activities. Prior to the workshop, a survey was conducted to obtain broad stakeholder input on the potential of living sensors and actuators, the current state-of-the-art technologies, challenges that represent innovation bottlenecks, and governance challenges. All participants in the workshop were asked to complete this pre-workshop survey, and they all received the data generated from this survey so that they could review it before participating in the workshop activities. In addition, the workshop organizers used this data to structure the activities in the workshop. The workshop spanned 1.5 days and was structured around breakout group activities that aligned with the topics of the pre-workshop survey, including understanding the current societal needs, defining the current-state-of-the-art, using specific scenarios to assess current knowledge gaps, reflecting on the knowledge gaps across different scenarios to identify cross-cutting challenges, identifying challenges that are specific to individua l application environments, and considering community needs more broadly. To support broad participation, the workshop facilitated virtual and in person participation.engExcept where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license.  Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the terms of the license or beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.ReportSynBioWorkshopReport_May21_2024https://doi.org/10.25611/3fd7-pz22