NSF-BSF: Dynamics of flowing particles in soft confined systems

NSF-BSF：软约束系统中流动粒子的动力学

• 批准号: 2328628
• 负责人: Bhargav Rallabandi
• 金额: $ 33.6万
• 依托单位: University of California-Riverside
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-10-01 至 2026-09-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2328628&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NSF; BSF; Dynamics; flowing; particles

This award will investigate how particles flow in complex compliant microscale systems, in which deformation of either the particles or the confining environment affects particle transport. Many biological and engineered structures at the microscale, such as cell membranes, biofilms, and microfluidic devices, are soft and thus easily deformed by fluid flow. Red blood cells deform when flowing in narrow capillaries, and swimming microbes and flowing microparticles can cause cell membranes to bend and deform. These deformations modify the motion of the suspended entities (e.g., cells or microorganisms) as a result of interactions with the carrying fluid. The project will quantify these interaction mechanisms, which are important to understand microscale biological transport, and to build biomimetic systems that use compliant structures to manipulate suspensions of particles or cells for biomedical applications. Furthermore, this award will foster education and outreach activities by engaging, or exposing undergraduate and graduate students, as well as middle and high-school teachers, to its research. As a collaboration between the University of California, Riverside and Tel Aviv University, it will also serve to enhance the participation of under-represented groups, including women, in both Riverside County and Tel Aviv (Israel).This award will investigate the dynamics of particulate suspensions confined by flexible elastic membranes, which are ubiquitous in biological environments at the microscale. The researchers will develop a fundamental understanding of hydroelastic mechanisms of suspension transport in microscale systems, using a combination of analytic theory, numerical simulations, and experiments. Over the course of the project, the international team will develop (i) novel theoretical and reduced-order models of hydroelastic interactions between particles near membranes, (ii) a new nonlinear hydroelastic mobility framework, complemented by numerical simulations, of many-particle dynamics in proximity to membranes, and (iii) new experimental studies to visualize, characterize, and quantify particle-membrane interactions in macroscopic and microscopic settings. Finally, the fundamental insights obtained from these studies will be used to develop a microfluidic device to manipulate and sort vesicles and soft particles based on their mechanical and geometric properties.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该奖项将研究颗粒如何在复杂的顺应微尺度系统中流动，其中颗粒或限制环境的变形影响颗粒传输。许多微观尺度的生物和工程结构，例如细胞膜、生物膜和微流体装置，都是柔软的，因此很容易因流体流动而变形。红细胞在狭窄的毛细血管中流动时会变形，游动的微生物和流动的微粒会导致细胞膜弯曲和变形。由于与携带流体的相互作用，这些变形改变了悬浮实体（例如细胞或微生物）的运动。该项目将量化这些相互作用机制，这对于理解微观生物运输以及构建使用顺应结构来操纵颗粒或细胞悬浮液以用于生物医学应用的仿生系统非常重要。此外，该奖项将通过让本科生和研究生以及初中和高中教师参与或接触其研究来促进教育和推广活动。作为加州大学河滨分校和特拉维夫大学之间的合作，该奖项还将有助于提高河滨县和特拉维夫（以色列）代表性不足的群体（包括妇女）的参与度。该奖项将调查由柔性弹性膜限制的颗粒悬浮液，在微尺度的生物环境中普遍存在。研究人员将结合分析理论、数值模拟和实验，对微尺度系统中悬浮液传输的水弹性机制有一个基本的了解。在该项目的过程中，国际团队将开发（i）膜附近粒子之间的水弹性相互作用的新颖理论和降阶模型，（ii）新的非线性水弹性迁移框架，并辅以多粒子动力学的数值模拟（iii）新的实验研究，以可视化、表征和量化宏观和微观环境中的颗粒-膜相互作用。最后，从这些研究中获得的基本见解将用于开发一种微流体装置，根据囊泡和软颗粒的机械和几何特性来操纵和分类。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。