CAREER: Growth and form in biological systems: a micromechanical approach

职业：生物系统中的生长和形成：微机械方法

• 批准号: 0093658
• 负责人: Thomas Powers
• 金额: $ 37.5万
• 依托单位: Brown University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2001
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2001-06-01 至 2007-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0093658&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Growth; form; biological; systems

0093658PowersThe proposed research and educational program under a CAREER award consists of using thetechniques and ideas of fundamental engineering science to study problems of biological growth, shape, and movement.The research will focus on the mechanics of biological filaments, ranging in scale from DNA to multicellular fibers. In particular, the investigator will study the formation and growth of supercoiling colonies of bacteria, the motility of cells, and the mechanics of DNA transcription. These problems require the development of mechanical theories in new directions, such as coupling of growth with elasticity and chirality for understanding the writhing instability of bacterial fibers. The work will be largely theoretical at first, but an essential component is the development of a micromanipulation laboratory to characterize the material properties of the growing fibers and to test the theory. The research will be integrated with curriculum development at Brown University in the newly established biomedical engineering program, and also in efforts to meet the emerging need for training biology students in methods of quantitative reasoning. Some of the proposed experiments, such as twirling flexible macroscopic helices in glycerol to model bacterial flagella, lie within the grasp of talented undergraduates and thus blend naturally into the educational program of bringing the methods of engineering to biology. Three new courses are planned. The first is an undergraduate course which focuses on the mechanics of cells, muscle, and other tissue. The second course, also at the undergraduate level, develops the continuum mechanics of fluids and solids within the context of biomedical engineering. Finally, the third course is a graduate course which introduces students in the physical sciences and engineering to aspects of molecular and cell biology with a focus on the mechanics of molecular motors, singlebiopolymers such as DNA, and cell membranes.***

0093658在职业奖项下提出的研究和教育计划的能力包括使用基本工程科学的基本研究和思想来研究生物学生长，形状和运动的问题。该研究将集中在生物学细丝的机制上，规模从DNA到多细胞纤维。 特别是，研究者将研究细菌超串联菌落的形成和生长，细胞的运动性和DNA转录力学。 这些问题需要在新方向上发展机械理论，例如生长与弹性和手性结合，以理解细菌纤维的扭曲不稳定。 最初，这项工作将在很大程度上是理论上的，但是一个重要的组成部分是开发微观流动实验室，以表征生长纤维的材料特性并测试理论。 这项研究将与布朗大学新成立的生物医学工程计划的课程开发相结合，并努力满足新兴的生物学学生的需求，以培训生物学学生的定量推理方法。 一些提出的实验，例如在甘油中旋转柔性宏观螺旋，以建模细菌鞭毛，在才华横溢的大学生的掌握之内，因此自然地融入了将工程学方法带入生物学的教育计划中。 计划了三个新课程。 第一个是一门本科课程，侧重于细胞，肌肉和其他组织的力学。 第二个课程也在本科层面上，在生物医学工程的背景下发展了流体和固体的连续力学。最后，第三个课程是研究生课程，将学生和工程学的学生介绍给分子和细胞生物学的各个方面，重点是分子电机的机制，单一生物聚合物，例如DNA和细胞膜。*** *** ***