North American Research Fellows: Mechanochemical Determinants of Biomembrane Strength

该奖项隶属于北美研究人员计划，该计划使来自美国、加拿大和墨西哥的美国科学家和工程师能够访问另外两个国家的一个或两个国家的研究机构，为期3到12个月。该计划的奖励为联合研究提供了机会，并利用独特或互补的设施、专业知识和国外的实验条件。该奖项将支持Dennis E. Discher博士在不列颠哥伦比亚大学和不列颠哥伦比亚省温哥华西蒙弗雷泽大学与Evan Evans博士一起进行为期12个月的博士后研究访问。在Evan Evans博士的指导下，Discher博士将接受实验生物化学和生物物理学方面的广泛培训，并将磨练他在数学上制定和分析不同尺度系统模型的能力。他的主要研究领域将是膜结构活力的决定因素，对生物膜的组织和功能具有一般意义。他将专注于红细胞膜。它的包封膜是真核细胞膜一般材料特性的原型。他将研究膜强度的决定因素和失效机制。他们的工作将首次详细地从分子层面理解细胞生物系统的强制失效。除了基础科学之外，红细胞膜力学在新材料系统和任何数量的生物学问题（如疟疾寄生虫入侵红细胞）中都属于国家和国际利益。＊＊＊

9505547 Discher This award is under the North American Research Fellows Program, which enables U.S. scientists and engineers from the United States, Canada and Mexico, to visit research establishments in one or both of the other two countries for periods of three to twelve months. The program's awards provide opportunities for joint research, and the use of unique or complementary facilities, expertise and experimental conditions abroad. This award will support a twelve month postdoctoral research visit by Dr. Dennis E. Discher to work with Dr. Evan Evans at the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia. Under the direction of Dr. Evan Evans, Dr. Discher will receive extensive training in experimental biochemistry and biophysics and will hone his ability to mathematically formulate and analyze system models of different scales. His principle area of study will be the determinants of membrane structural viability with general implications toward biomembrane organization and function. He will focus on the red cell membrane. Its encapsulating membrane is a prototype for the general material character of eukaryotic cell membranes. He will work on determinants of membrane strengths and mechanisms of failure. What will emerge from their work will be the first detailed, molecular understanding of forced failure of a cell biological system. Beyond the fundamental science, red cell membrane mechanics falls within national and international interests in both novel material systems and any number of biological problems such as malarial parasite invasion of red cells. ***