Collaborative Research: MPSA-ENG: Interplay of Biosensing and Locomotion in Confined Microfluidic Environments

该提案利用跨学科的方法来研究线虫的运动及其对环境变化的感官反应。线虫具有遗传易驯化、基因组测序、解剖结构简单、身体透明等特点，是目前生物学研究最多的模式动物之一。这也是一个研究机动性和传感的极好系统。该项目将使用线虫作为活体的简单模型系统，以获得关键的物理信息，以了解感知、运动和环境之间的相互作用，并将这些信息纳入波动运动的理论和计算模型。这是华盛顿大学的一名机械工程师和纽约大学的一名数学家合作的研究项目。这项研究预计将对智能传感和驱动技术产生影响，其结果将成为开发智能设备的基础，这些设备可以导致稳健的自适应系统和结构设计。

The proposal utilizes an interdisciplinary approach to study the locomotion of C. elegans and their sensory response to environmental variations. C. elegans is one of the mostly studied model animals in biology due to its genetic tractability, sequenced genome, simple anatomy and body transparency. It is also a superb system to study mobility and sensing. This project will use C. elegans as a simple model system of living organisms to obtain critical physical information for understanding the interplay between sensing, locomotion and environment, incorporate this information into theoretical and computational models of undulatory locomotion. This is a collaborative research project between a mechanical engineer at Washington University and a mathematical at the New York University.This research is expected to impact on smart sensing and actuation technology, and the results will serve as building blocks for development of smart devices that can lead to robust design of adaptive systems and structures.