Experimental studies of the mechanism of biological organisation.

生物组织机制的实验研究。

• 批准号: EP/H02235X/1
• 负责人: Peter Weightman
• 金额: $ 25.5万
• 依托单位: University of Liverpool
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2009 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FH02235X%2F1
• 关键词: Experimental; studies; mechanism; biological; organisation.

One of the most difficult things to understand about living things is their ability to maintain themselves in an active organised state without running down. Physicists expect all systems to be governed by thermodynamics the second law of which states that the disorder, or entropy, of a system will always increase. For a living system this is a sentence of decay, disorder and death and that is the fate of all life. However thermodynamics allows an ordered state to continue provided it is maintained out of equilibrium and a flow of free energy through the system acts to increase the entropy outside of the system. So thermodynamics is compatible with the existence of living things but it does not provide any information on the mechanisms by which living systems organise and maintain themselves.This research programme will provide several experimental tests of a long standing and controversial hypothesis that very long wavelength modes of vibration in the terahertz (THz) region of the electromagnetic spectrum play an important role in the self-organisation of biological systems. THz waves have wavelengths of the order of 300 microns and lie between radio waves and infrared radiation in the electromagnetic spectrum. The idea that THz modes are exploited in mechanisms of biological organisation is appealing since at the temperatures at which living things operate the thermal energy is able to excite waves with energies up to 6 THz. Consequently it is possible that rotational and vibrational modes excited in this frequency range by chemical interactions in living things will have been selected by evolution to play a role in biological organisation. A crucial issue is whether THz modes live long enough to be important in biological activity. The detailed theoretical work is conflicting and the experimental evidence for long-lived THz modes is sparse and controversial. What is needed to resolve this question is experiments. However laboratory sources of THz radiation are weak, with power levels in the micro W to mille W range and these low power levels are the principle reason why it has not been possible to carryout a convincing test of this hypothesis previously. In this programme we will exploit the unique intense THz beamline on the ALICE accelerator at the Daresbury laboratory that is equipped with a tissue culture facility. The beamline has a high peak power, 70 kW, and a low average power 24 mW. The high peak power is delivered in a short pulse of < 1 pico second. The high peak power is important because it enables us to overcome the problem of THz absorption by water. The low average power makes it possible to eliminate thermal effects which can have a major impact on biological systems. Finally some of the experiments could not be done without the ability to maintain the specimens in the tissue culture facility.THz radiation has the potential to influence multiple levels of biological organisation; direct interactions at the molecular level have the potential to affect cell behaviour, which in turn will influence cell-cell interactions thereby affecting the development of the whole organism. We will therefore investigate the role of THz at all three levels of biological organisation by studying:-1) The role of THz modes in biomolecular interactions2) The influence of THz modes on the growth and differentiation of stem cells.3) The influence of THz modes on the normal development of zebra fish embryos. Finally in order to consolidate research collaborations between physical scientists and life scientists in the University of Liverpool we will invite teams from this community to submit proposals for small scale speculative research programmes.

关于生物的最困难的事情之一是他们能够保持自己的有组织状态而不会倒下。物理学家期望所有系统受热力学的管辖，第二定律指出，系统的疾病或熵将始终增加。对于生活系统而言，这是衰败，混乱和死亡的句子，这就是所有生命的命运。但是，如果热力学允许有序状态继续，只要它以平衡状态和通过系统的自由能流量保持，以增加系统外部的熵。因此，热力学与生物的存在兼容，但它没有提供有关生命系统组织和维护自己的机制的任何信息。该研究计划将提供多个实验性测试，以实现长期和有争议的假设，这些假设是很长的波长模式电磁光谱的Terahertz（THZ）区域的振动在生物系统的自组织中起重要作用。 THZ波的波长为300微米，位于电磁频谱中的无线电波和红外辐射之间。在生物组织机制中利用THZ模式的想法具有吸引力，因为在生物运行的温度下，热能能够以最高6 THz的能量激发波动。因此，通过Evolution选择了通过化学相互作用在这种频率范围内激发的旋转和振动模式，而Evolution将选择在生物组织中发挥作用。一个关键的问题是，THZ模式的寿命是否足够长，可以在生物学活动中很重要。详细的理论工作是矛盾的，长期以来的THZ模式的实验证据稀疏且有争议。解决这个问题需要的是实验。但是，THZ辐射的实验室来源很弱，在微电量到Mille W范围内的功率水平和这些低功率水平是为什么以前无法对此假设进行令人信服的检验的主要原因。在该计划中，我们将利用配备组织培养设施的Daesbury实验室的Alice Accelerator上独特的强烈THZ光束线。梁线具有高峰值功率，70 kW和低平均功率24兆瓦。高峰值功率以<1 pico秒为单位的短脉冲传递。高峰值功率很重要，因为它使我们能够克服水吸收的问题。低平均功率使消除可能对生物系统产生重大影响的热效应成为可能。最后，如果没有能够维持组织培养设施中标本的能力，就无法进行一些实验。THZ辐射有可能影响多个生物组织的水平。分子水平的直接相互作用具有影响细胞行为的潜力，这反过来会影响细胞 - 细胞相互作用，从而影响整个生物体的发育。因此，我们将通过研究THZ在生物组织的所有三个级别的作用：-1）THZ模式在生物分子相互作用中的作用2）THz模式对干细胞生长和分化的影响。3）THZ的影响。斑马鱼胚胎正常发育的模式。最后，为了巩固利物浦大学的物理科学家与生命科学家之间的研究合作，我们将邀请该社区的团队提交有关小型投机研究计划的建议。

项目成果

Use of reflectance anisotropy spectroscopy for mapping the anisotropy of lyotropic liquid crystal dispersions in formulations

使用反射各向异性光谱绘制配方中溶致液晶分散体的各向异性

• DOI: 10.1080/1358314x.2016.1242253
• 发表时间: 2016
• 期刊: Liquid Crystals Today
• 影响因子: 3.1
• 作者: Prescott E

Modification of the optical spectrum of Cytosine by the formation of an ordered monolayer of molecules at a au(110)/electrolyte interface.

通过在 au(110)/电解质界面形成有序单层分子来改变胞嘧啶的光谱。

• DOI: 10.1002/cphc.201500014
• 发表时间: 2015
• 期刊: a European journal of chemical physics and physical chemistry
• 作者: Bowfield A

Fundamental differences in model cell-surface polysaccharides revealed by complementary optical and spectroscopic techniques

• DOI: 10.1039/c2sm25239b
• 发表时间: 2012-01-01
• 期刊: SOFT MATTER
• 影响因子: 3.4
• 作者: Holder, Gareth M.;Bowfield, Andrew;Weightman, Peter
• 通讯作者: Weightman, Peter

"Fast Compressive Terahertz Imaging"

“快速压缩太赫兹成像”

• 发表时间: 2010
• 作者: Lu Gan

Near-field optical microscopy with an infra-red free electron laser applied to cancer diagnosis

• DOI: 10.1063/1.4790436
• 发表时间: 2013-02-04
• 期刊: APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS
• 影响因子: 4
• 作者: Smith, A. D.;Siggel-King, M. R. F.;Weightman, P.
• 通讯作者: Weightman, P.