EAGER: Studies in Biological Size and Shape Control

EAGER：生物尺寸和形状控制的研究

• 批准号: 1338376
• 负责人: Robert Laughlin
• 金额: $ 30万
• 依托单位: Stanford University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-06-15 至 2016-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1338376&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EAGER; Studies; Biological; Size; Shape

In this project, the PI will test a novel hypothesis that eukaryotic cells use wave fringe counting to measure their lengths and shapes. The project was inspired by an experiment showing that strong alternating electric fields disrupt mitosis in a way that is resonant at radio frequencies. The PI will bring ideas from physics, where it is well understood that fringe counting is the method for measuring lengths stable at large scales. The PI hypothesis that fringe counting work cells uses simulated inertia: a method commonly by human engineers in designing microchips and also playing role in biology in the functioning of the cochlea. The larger objective of the proposed research is to identify the meter sticks of life. The intellectual merit of the proposed research might lead to a fundamentally new understanding of cell regulatory machinery. A potential discovery that cells can and do measure lengths by means of fringe counting would open a new chapter in our understanding of morphogenesis and biology in general and can lead to transformation of medicine.

在这个项目中，PI将测试一个新的假设，即真核细胞使用波条纹计数来测量它们的长度和形状。该项目的灵感来自一项实验，该实验表明强交变电场以一种在射频下共振的方式破坏有丝分裂。PI将带来物理学的想法，在那里，众所周知，条纹计数是测量大尺度稳定长度的方法。PI假设条纹计数工作单元使用模拟惯性：人类工程师在设计微芯片时常用的方法，也在耳蜗功能的生物学中发挥作用。拟议研究的更大目标是确定生命的米尺。这项研究的智力价值可能会导致对细胞调节机制的全新理解。一个潜在的发现，即细胞可以并且确实可以通过条纹计数来测量长度，这将为我们对形态发生和生物学的理解开辟新的篇章，并可能导致医学的变革。