COLLAB: From Structure to Information in Mechanosensory Systems. The role of Sensor Morphology in Detecting Fluid Signals.

桡足类在触角和刚毛的形态、朝向和纹饰程度上表现出惊人的多样性。这种多样性的原因和后果仍未被探索，但形态变化的惊人程度表明机械传感器特性及其感官作用之间的结构-功能关系。本研究以桡足类为模型系统，探讨了机械感觉结构的形状与其在非稳态流体条件下运动之间的关系。这个项目的目标是量化流体运动和感觉形态之间的关系。扫描电镜测量了三种桡足类动物不同刚毛的大小和宽度，透射电镜测量了角质层的厚度和树突穿透单个机械感受器轴的程度。弯曲毛发所需的力和单个毛发对实验室中产生的良好描述的流动的生理反应将根据受体的物理特性进行量化。经验数据将用于建立两个相互作用的模型：有限元法（FEM）和计算流体动力学（CFD）。FEM将用于模拟具有已知形态和弯曲特性的单个seta的运动，而CFD将用于计算施加在seta每个区域的水动力和扭矩以及seta对周围流动的影响。这些数据是理解这些小的、神经系统简单的有机体如何从无数生物和物理诱导的流体运动中区分出来的基础。该项目包括几个独立的子项目，这些子项目将为有动力的本科生提供难得的机会，让他们获得动手研究经验，学习复杂的培养技术、光学基础、显微录像、神经生理学和数值模拟的力量。高中学生也将被邀请到实验室来维护文化，并帮助本科生完成他们的项目。PI还将与COSEE项目（旨在将海洋科学带到农村地区）和“Keller Bloom”项目合作，该项目为缅因州农村的天才高中生提供为期一周的科学浸入式课程。该项目的成果也将有助于其他BLOS教育和推广计划的发展，最值得注意的是phytotopia项目（http://www.bigelow.org/phytopia/）和每周向公众开放的夏季系列研讨会。

Copepods present a spectacular diversity of antennule and setal morphologies, orientations and degree of ornamentation. The causes and consequences of this diversity remain unexplored, but the staggering degree of morphological variation suggests structure-function relationships between mechanosensor properties and their sensory roles. Using copepods as a model system, this work will address the relationship between the shape of mechanosensory structures and their movement under non steady-state fluid conditions. The goal of this project is to quantify the relationship between fluid motion and sensory morphology. Scanning electron microscopic measurements of the size and width of different setae and transmission electron microscopic measurements of cuticular thickness and the extent of the dendritic penetration up the shaft of individual mechanoreceptors will be made for three species of copepods. The force required to bend the seta and the physiological response of individual hairs to the well described flows created in the lab will be quantified with respect to the physical characteristics of the receptor. The empirical data will be used to build two interacting models: Finite Element Method (FEM) and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). The FEM will be used to model the motion of individual seta with known morphology and bending characteristics while the CFD will be used to calculate the hydrodynamic force and torque applied to each region of the seta and the influence of the seta on the surrounding flow. These data are fundamental to understanding how these small, neurologically simple organisms can distinguish from the myriad of biologically and physically induced fluid movements. The project includes several self-contained sub-projects that will provide exceptional opportunities for motivated undergraduate students to receive hands-on research experience learning sophisticated culturing techniques, the fundamentals of optics, microvideography, neurophysiology and the power of numerical simulations. High school students will also be invited into the lab to maintain cultures and help the undergraduate students with their projects. The PI will also work with the COSEE program (designed to bring ocean science to rural areas) and the ''Keller Bloom'' project which provides a week long science immersion course to gifted high school students from rural Maine. Results of the project will also contribute to the development of other BLOS educational and outreach programs, most notably the Phytopia project http://www.bigelow.org/phytopia/) and a weekly summer seminar series open to the public.