NSF Science and Technology Center: Emergent Behaviors of Integrated Cellular Systems

NSF 科学技术中心：集成蜂窝系统的涌现行为

• 批准号: 0939511
• 负责人: Roger Kamm
• 金额: $ 2500万
• 依托单位: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Cooperative Agreement
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-09-15 至 2022-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0939511&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NSF; Science; Technology; Center; Emergent

The STC on Emergent Behavior of Integrated Cellular Systems (EBICS) will develop the science and technology needed to engineer clusters of living cells (also called biological machines) that have desired functionalities and can perform prescribed tasks. These machines will consist of sensing, information processing, actuation, protein expression, and transport elements that can be effectively combined to create functional units. It is envisioned that these biological machines will perform tasks such as processing systems that detect toxins in the environment and neutralize them; smart plants that sense and respond to the need for water and nutrients, surrogate organs that are used in place of animals to test new drugs; and biological factories that sequester CO2 in a continuous flow process. Intellectual merit of the proposed STC lies in the realization of the field of engineered biological systems that seeks to understand how cell systems interact to produce coordinated, emergent behavior under the control of local micro-environmental cues consisting of biochemical factors and physical stimuli. Recently, much attention has focused on research into the creation of single-cell machines or factories. While such uni-cellular machines hold enormous promise, the potential impact of multi-cellular systems that incorporate populations of specialized cells assembled into a single integrated unit is far greater. New insights and understanding into cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions are critical to attaining this goal, and this will require new technological platforms to bridge molecular scale interactions with macroscale behavior of complex biological systems. The proposed research direction is truly transformative and revolutionary at the interface of science and engineering.Broader impacts of EBICS include the potential to significantly enhance the understanding of emergent biological behaviors under integrated biochemical and physical cues at the cellular, cell network, and cell population levels; and an outreach and knowledge transfer program that will attract more young students into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and particularly into the interdisciplinary field between biology and engineering. The center, through its alliance with minority serving institutions and active collaborative research plans with those institutions will improve the participation of underrepresented minorities in STEM. The EBICS education plan includes a two-track, integrated graduate program that effectively merges the essential sciences and technologies needed, a graduate teaching consortium to offer a selection of courses synchronously in all partnering institutions via the internet, and international experiences by internships. Graduate courses developed by EBICS will be recorded and made widely and freely accessible through OpenCourseWare. The novel and revolutionary nature of the research will attract the best and the brightest students into this program and strengthen the future US workforce?s competitiveness in a global economy. Applications based on the Center?s potential discoveries will have direct impact on critical national needs such as energy, the environment, security, and healthcare. The vision of the proposed STC is clearly aligned with the national research and education strategic priorities.

集成细胞系统紧急行为 (EBICS) 的 STC 将开发设计具有所需功能并能够执行指定任务的活细胞簇（也称为生物机器）所需的科学和技术。这些机器将由传感、信息处理、驱动、蛋白质表达和运输元件组成，这些元件可以有效地组合起来创建功能单元。预计这些生物机器将执行诸如检测环境中的毒素并中和它们的处理系统等任务；能够感知并响应水和营养需求的智能植物，替代动物来测试新药的替代器官；以及以连续流动过程封存二氧化碳的生物工厂。所提出的 STC 的智力价值在于工程生物系统领域的实现，该领域旨在了解细胞系统如何相互作用，在由生化因素和物理刺激组成的局部微环境线索的控制下产生协调的、紧急的行为。最近，人们的注意力集中在创建单细胞机器或工厂的研究上。虽然这种单细胞机器具有巨大的前景，但将特化细胞群组装成单个集成单元的多细胞系统的潜在影响要大得多。对细胞-细胞和细胞-基质相互作用的新见解和理解对于实现这一目标至关重要，这将需要新的技术平台来桥接分子尺度相互作用与复杂生物系统的宏观行为。拟议的研究方向在科学和工程的界面上具有真正的变革性和革命性。EBICS 的更广泛影响包括显着增强对细胞、细胞网络和细胞群水平上综合生化和物理线索下的新兴生物行为的理解的潜力；外展和知识转移计划将吸引更多年轻学生进入科学、技术、工程和数学 (STEM)，特别是进入生物学和工程之间的跨学科领域。该中心通过与少数族裔服务机构的联盟以及与这些机构的积极合作研究计划，将提高代表性不足的少数族裔对 STEM 的参与。 EBICS 教育计划包括一个双轨综合研究生项目，有效融合所需的基本科学和技术，一个研究生教学联盟，通过互联网在所有合作机构同步提供精选课程，以及通过实习获得国际经验。 EBICS 开发的研究生课程将被记录下来，并通过 OpenCourseWare 广泛、免费地访问。该研究的新颖性和革命性将吸引最优秀和最聪明的学生加入该项目，并增强未来美国劳动力在全球经济中的竞争力。基于该中心潜在发现的应用将对能源、环境、安全和医疗保健等关键国家需求产生直接影响。拟议的 STC 的愿景与国家研究和教育战略重点明确一致。