NIRT: Bio-inspired Actuating Structures

摘要生物学对工程问题有显著的解决方案。在流体流动的背景下，生物体广泛采用击打纤毛进行自我推进的策略，并移动液体以进行颗粒运输和进食。对于集成生化设备的工程，需要解决方案来执行推进、混合和分离等流体操作。研究人员将研究作为合成纤毛表面的纳米棒片的创造和驱动，并研究其性质，重点是流体动力学和在微流体中的应用。他们将开发材料和工艺，以在片状和微流体系统中创建可控的驱动纤毛图案。他们将通过复杂的流体建模和纳米尺度的流体运动跟踪相结合的方式来研究纳米棒产生的流体动力学。这个项目将发展对生物如何移动液体的新理解，以及我们如何为新的紧凑分析和医疗技术应用设计这种结构。该计划将创建一个教育显微镜和纳米技术开放实验室，允许初中和高中教师远程访问AFM，以探索纤毛等生物样本，并探索用于工程结构的磁弹性体化合物。

Abstract 0507151Biology has remarkable solutions to engineering problems. In the context of fluid flows, organisms widely adopt the strategy of beating cilia for self-propulsion and to move fluids for particulate transport and feeding. For the engineering of integrated biochemical devices, solutions are needed for performing fluidic operations such as propulsion, mixing and separation. The investigators will pursue the creation and actuation of sheets of nanorods that serve as synthetic ciliated surfaces, and study their properties with a focus on fluid dynamics and applications in microfluidics. They will develop materials and processing to create controlled patterning of actuating cilia in sheets and within microfluidic systems. They will study the fluid dynamics generated by nanorods through a combination of sophisticated fluid modeling and nanoscale tracking of fluid motion. This project will develop both a new understanding of how biology moves fluids and how, in turn, we can engineer such structures for new compact analytical and medical technology applications. This program will create an educational microscopy and nanotechnology open lab that will allow middle and high school teachers remote access to the AFM to explore biological samples such as cilia and to explore magnetoelastomer compounds for engineered structures.