CAREER: Three-dimensional optical image guided spectroscopy for biological material analysis

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。这个综合研究和教育计划的目标是了解在活组织中形成蛋白质的机制。这种理解对于诱导组织生长、伤口愈合或疾病恢复以及其他生物制造应用至关重要。该项目的具体重点是开发一种非侵入性光学显微镜方法，使生物学研究人员第一次能够真正地看到蛋白质是如何形成和分解的。这种能力可以对生物学研究产生变革性的影响。知识价值。为了理解蛋白质组装的复杂过程，研究人员需要能够在微米（1/1,000,000米）或更小的尺度上可视化过程。光与物质的相互作用可以在不损害样品的情况下产生所需的蛋白质成分的图像。然而，人们仍然不知道究竟是什么产生了用于制造蛋白质图像的信号。该项目的目标是建立全面的方法来研究蛋白质是如何在活组织中形成的。该方法将基于多光子光学显微镜方法，结合二次谐波产生的非线性光学现象和结合拉曼光谱的双光子荧光信号来研究蛋白质组装。更广泛的影响。无创监测和了解蛋白质衍生生物材料和粘合剂的结构、组成和功能的能力将对生物学研究和生物工程产生重大影响。这将使设计、构建、修改、生长和维护活工程组织、植入物和新型粘合剂的科学原理成为可能。该项目还包括培训来自不同背景的研究生、本科生和大学预科生的举措。首席研究员将开发课程课程，要求学生？深入了解与光学显微镜及其生物学应用有关的主题。不同年龄的学生和公众将获得更多的欣赏如何不同的领域相互作用产生高影响的工程研究的基本组装机制的蛋白质为基础的材料。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).0847070LyubovitskyThe objective of this integrated research and educational program is to understand the mechanisms that form proteins in living tissues. This understanding is critical for inducing tissue growth for wound healing or disease recovery, and for other biomanufacturing applications. The specific focus of the project is to develop a non-invasive optical microscopy method that will enable biological researchers, for the first time, to literally see how the proteins form and disassemble. This capability can have a transformative impact on biological research. INTELLECTUAL MERIT. To understand the complex process of protein assembly, researchers need to be able to visualize processes at very small scales on the order of microns (1/1,000,000 meter) and smaller. An interaction of light with matter can produce the needed pictures of protein components without harming the samples. However, it is still not known what exactly generates the signals used to make protein pictures. The goal of this project is to establish comprehensive approaches for studying how proteins are formed in living tissues. The approach will be based on a multi-photon optical microscopy method that combines nonlinear optical phenomena of second harmonic generation and two-photon fluorescence signals integrated with Raman spectroscopy to study protein assembly. BROADER IMPACT. The ability to non-invasively monitor and understand the structure, composition and function of protein-derived biological materials and adhesives will have significant impacts on biological research and bioengineering. It will make it possible to establish scientific principles for the design, construction, modification, growth, and maintenance of living engineered tissues, implants and novel adhesives. The project also incorporates initiatives to train graduate, undergraduate, and pre-college students from diverse backgrounds. The Principal Investigator will develop course curriculum that requires students? in-depth understanding of subject matters related to optical microscopy and its biological applications. Students of various ages and the general public will gain a greater appreciation of how diverse fields interact to produce high impact engineering research on the fundamental assembly mechanisms of protein-based materials.