SBIR Phase I: Integrating Neurobiology and Cell Culture for Careers in Neuroscience

SBIR 第一阶段：整合神经生物学和细胞培养以促进神经科学职业

• 批准号: 1345707
• 负责人: Karen Graf
• 金额: $ 15万
• 依托单位: EDVOTEK Inc
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-01-01 至 2014-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1345707&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Integrating; Neurobiology; Cell

This SBIR Phase I project proposes to provide the required neuroscience and eukaryotic biology resources to usher new content and skill sets for upper level high school and lower level college life science courses. Neuroscience today is an important focus for our society due to the aging population, since it will offer the beginnings of understanding on brain function and disease etiology. Unlike many of the sciences, neuroscience requires understanding eukaryotic biology and contributions beyond the classical life sciences to include aspects of quantitative sciences and engineering. Increasing numbers of jobs in pharmaceutical divisions of major companies require scientists from various disciplines. Likewise many universities are devoting large divisions to neuroscience research. Therefore it is important to expose students early to the necessary building blocks of neuroscience. The proposed neuroscience experiments will include cell culture-based research study of nerve damage, a hands-on animal behavioral study, and a student participation study of neurobiology of human taste. The long-term objective for the company is to manufacture safe robust and affordable classroom neuroscience resources that are linked to eukaryotic cell and molecular biology that will be introduced as comprehensive classroom experiments coupled to teacher professional development workshops and student learning assessment studies.The broader/commercial impact of this SBIR is substantial, since it will advance student learning by exposing a diverse student population to neuroscience. Over the past 15 years basic science has moved to eukaryotic systems with pharmaceutical companies shifting their focus from small molecule medicines to large human proteins that treat neurological disorders, such as interferon for multiple sclerosis, produced in mammalian cells. Likewise, neuroscience has become a focus of graduate school research and is beginning to be offered to college and upper high school students. The company recognizes that introducing eukaryotic cell culture skills in high schools is challenging due to the cost of required laboratory equipment. Since students are provided with prefilled 96-well plates that contain medium and pre-attached cells, the company now has the opportunity to introduce a novel micro-scale cell culture option that minimizes the need for equipment, including expensive cell culture hoods, incubators and cell media.

这个SBIR第一阶段项目建议提供所需的神经科学和真核生物学资源，为高水平高中和低水平大学生命科学课程引入新的内容和技能集。由于人口老龄化，今天的神经科学是我们社会的一个重要焦点，因为它将为理解大脑功能和疾病病因提供开端。与许多科学不同，神经科学需要了解真核生物学，并在经典生命科学之外做出贡献，包括定量科学和工程学的各个方面。大公司制药部门越来越多的工作需要来自不同学科的科学家。同样，许多大学都在神经科学研究上投入了大量的分部。因此，让学生尽早接触到神经科学的必要基础知识是很重要的。拟议的神经科学实验将包括基于细胞培养的神经损伤研究，动手动物行为研究，以及人类味觉神经生物学的学生参与研究。该公司的长期目标是制造与真核细胞和分子生物学相关的安全、坚固和负担得起的课堂神经科学资源，这些资源将作为综合课堂实验引入教师专业发展研讨会和学生学习评估研究。这种SBIR的更广泛/商业影响是巨大的，因为它将通过让不同的学生群体接触神经科学来促进学生学习。在过去15年里，随着制药公司将重点从小分子药物转向治疗神经系统疾病的大型人类蛋白质，例如治疗多发性硬化症的干扰素，制药公司已将重点转向真核系统。同样，神经科学已经成为研究生院研究的重点，并开始向大学生和高中生提供服务。该公司认识到，由于所需实验室设备的成本，在高中引入真核细胞培养技能是具有挑战性的。由于为学生提供了预填充的96孔板，其中包含培养基和预连接的细胞，该公司现在有机会推出一种新颖的微型细胞培养方案，将对设备的需求降至最低，包括昂贵的细胞培养罩、孵化器和细胞培养液。