Presidential Young Investigators Award

细胞的行为受到细胞表面受体大分子的强烈影响。将从理论和实验两方面研究受体在细胞黏附、病毒感染、囊泡融合和膜信号转导等重要生物学过程中的作用。这些信息将允许使用受体结合配体来操纵生物反应器中的细胞行为，并开发异常生物过程的治疗方法。一个令人感兴趣的领域是受体介导的细胞与配体涂层表面的黏附，这在细胞分离技术中以及在癌细胞转移等生理过程中都可以发现。含有受体结合配体的明确的细胞外基质样载体将被开发。利用这些载体，我们将探索白细胞在流动条件下的动态黏附以及基因工程细胞的长期黏附、伸长和生理学。在这些问题中，实验是使用使用真实基本参数的数学模型来分析的。生物技术对未来有着巨大的希望。为了为了商业和社会利益而设计细胞行为，有必要从根本上理解细胞行为。例如，为了从细胞中合成高价值的药物，或者治疗由细胞故障引起的疾病，有必要了解细胞如何工作的详细信息。细胞表面被称为受体的分子在向细胞传递信息方面极其重要。人们建议研究如何利用细胞受体来操纵和改变细胞行为。利用数学建模和实验技术，在几个重要的过程中，如细胞与表面的黏附，病毒与细胞的黏附，并对蛋白质的分泌进行研究。这一认识随后可用于开发用于制药生产的生物反应器，治疗与粘连相关的疾病，如癌细胞在体内的传播，更有效地分离细胞，或阻止艾滋病等病毒传播疾病的进展。

Cell behavior is strongly influenced by cell surface receptor macromolecules. Both theory and experiment will be used to study the role of receptors in several important biological processes including cell adhesion, viral infection, vesicle fusion and membrane signal transduction. Such information will allow the use of receptor-binding ligands to manipulate cell behavior in bioreactors, and develop therapies for aberrant biological processes. One area of interest is receptor-mediated cell adhesion to ligand-coated surfaces, found in cell separation technology, and in physiological precesses such as cancer cell metastasis. Well-defined extracellular matrix-like supports which contain receptor- binding ligands will be developed. Using these supports both the dynamic adhesion of leukocytes under flow conditions and the long-term adhesion, elongation and physiology of genetically engineered cells will be explored. In these problems, experiments are analyzed using mathematical models which employ, real fundamental parameters. Biotechnology holds immense promise for the future. In order to engineer cellular behavior for commercial and societal gain, it is necessary to understand cellular behavior on a fundamental basis. For example, to elicit the synthesis of high value pharmaceuticals from cells, or treat diseases which result from malfunctioning cells, it is necessary to have detailed information about how the cell works. Molecules on the cell surface called receptors are extremely important in tranducing information to the cell. It is proposed to study how to exploit cell receptors to manipulate and modify cellular behavior. Using both mathematical modelling and experimental techniques, the quantitative relationship between receptors and cell behavior in several important processes such as the adhesion of cells to surfaces, the adhesion of viruses to cells, and the secretion of proteins will be studied. This understanding can then be used to develop bioreactors for pharmaceutical production, treat adhesion- related diseases such as the spread of cancer cells through the body, separate cells more efficiently, or block the progression of virally transmitted diseases, such as AIDS.