CAREER: Stability and Dynamics of Tissue Cell Assemblies in Yield Stress Materials

非技术总结：该职业奖由佛罗里达大学材料研究部生物材料项目颁发，旨在通过使用现代材料和工程与材料科学工具，从凝聚态物理的角度研究生物系统。该奖项由土木、机械和制造创新部（ENG/CMMI）的生物力学和机械生物学项目共同资助。为了招募和留住多样化的学生群体，本提案的教育目标是通过系统地将软物质主题整合到本科课程和课外活动中，减少机械工程学科的刻板印象。所有机械工程专业的学生在整个本科职业生涯中，都将以讲座、实验室、职业咨询和与海洋研究实验室合作的校外实地课程的形式，持续接触跨学科主题。拟议的教育和研究活动是综合的；拟议研究中的材料将用于教学，而教育策略有望增加研究活动的潜在学生数量。拟议中的教育计划是要改变一个庞大的、传统上同质的领域的人口构成。教育活动针对STEM领域中代表性不足的群体，并建议增加他们参与学术界和工业界的STEM相关研究。提出的研究为具有潜在社会效益的3D细胞培养创造了一个新的平台；一种新的有效的细胞生物材料的开发可以推进生物材料研究、生物医学研究、生物医学技术和医学。最可能的潜在影响将发生在伤口愈合和组织工程技术。例如，在急性伤口的治疗中，生物相容性屈服应力材料可能是理想的伤口愈合支架。类似于“骨腻子”，这些材料可以作为流体挤出来完全填充地形复杂的伤口，并且非常快地固化。技术概述：该职业奖由佛罗里达大学材料研究部生物材料项目颁发，旨在通过使用现代材料和工程与材料科学工具，从凝聚态物理的角度研究生物系统。该奖项由土木、机械和制造创新部（ENG/CMMI）的生物力学和机械生物学项目共同资助。提出的研究目标是利用不稳定性，拓扑结构和对称性的基本物理来研究组织细胞动力学。电池组件将通过直接挤压成屈服应力材料的结构进行3D打印。当施加应力较低时，屈服应力材料为固体；压力大的时候它们是液体。细胞和屈服应力材料的结合为多细胞结构的大小、形状、对称性和拓扑结构等变量提供了前所未有的控制。本文的主要研究重点是：(1)简单结构的力学不稳定性，以分类和测量集体胞力；2)复杂多细胞结构的对称性和拓扑结构在集体细胞动力学中的作用。提出的屈服应力细胞生物材料的研究是重要的，因为它：(1)为开展3D细胞动力学的基础研究创造了一个优越的平台；(2)创造了一种以前从未研究过的新型生物材料；(3)探讨了集体细胞动力学的基本方面，由于可用的支持材料的限制，以前无法完成。提出的活动建立在一个新的概念上，打破了细胞生物材料的既定范式，潜在地推进了基本组织力学和生理学、组织培养方法论和细胞生物材料科学与工程领域的知识。拟议的教育努力包括广泛收集学生对机械工程的看法、人口流失率和就业安置的数据。这些数据将提供关于机械工程课程的学生群体历史上缺乏多样性的原因和补救措施的新知识。

Non-technical Summary:This CAREER award by the Biomaterials program in the Division of Materials Research to University of Florida is to investigate biological systems from a perspective of condensed matter physics by employing the modern materials and tools of engineering and materials science. This award is cofunded by Biomechanics and Mechanobiology program in the Division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation(ENG/CMMI). To recruit and retain a diverse student population, the educational objectives of this proposal are to diminish stereotypical views of Mechanical Engineering discipline by systematically integrating soft matter topics into undergraduate curriculum and extra-curricular activities. Persistent exposure to interdisciplinary topics will be provided to all Mechanical Engineering majors throughout their undergraduate careers in the form of lectures, labs, career advising, and an extramural field courses in collaboration with a marine research laboratory. The proposed education and research activities are integrated; the materials in the proposed research will be used in teaching, and the education strategy is expected to grow the pool of potential students for research activities. The proposed education plan is to shift the demographic makeup of a large, traditionally homogeneous field. Education activities target underrepresented groups in STEM fields and proposes to increase their participation in STEM related research in academia and industry. The proposed research creates a new platform for 3D cell culture with potential social benefits; the development of a new effective cellular biomaterial may advance biomaterials research, biomedical research, biomedical technology, and medicine. The most likely potential impacts would occur in wound healing and tissue engineering technologies. In the treatment of acute wounds, for example, biocompatible yield stress materials could be ideal wound healing scaffolds. Analogous to 'bone putty', these materials can be extruded as a fluid to completely fill a topographically complex wound, and solidifying very quickly.Technical Summary:This CAREER award by the Biomaterials program in the Division of Materials Research to University of Florida is to investigate biological systems from a perspective of condensed matter physics by employing the modern materials and tools of engineering and materials science. This award is cofunded by Biomechanics and Mechanobiology program in the Division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation(ENG/CMMI). The proposed research objective is to leverage the basic physics of instability, topology and symmetry to study tissue cell dynamics. Cell assemblies will be 3D printed by the direct extrusion of structures into volumes of yield stress material. Yield stress materials are solids when applied stress is low; and they are fluids when stress is high. The combination of cells and yield-stress materials provides unprecedented control of variables like size, shape, symmetry, and topology in multicellular structures. The main focus of this proposal is to study: (1) mechanical instabilities in simple structures to classify and measure collective cell forces; and 2) the role of symmetry and topology of complex multicellular structures in collective cell dynamics. The proposed investigation of the yield-stress cellular biomaterial is significant because it: (1) creates a superior platform for carrying out fundamental investigations of 3D cell dynamics; (2) creates a new class of biomaterial never before investigated; and (3) explores fundamental aspects of collective cell dynamics that previously could not be done due to limitations of available support materials. The proposed activities are founded on a new concept that breaks away from the established paradigm in cellular biomaterials, potentially advancing knowledge in the areas of basic tissue mechanics and physiology, tissue culture methodology, and cellular biomaterial science and engineering. The proposed educational efforts incorporate extensive data collection of the students' perspective of Mechanical Engineering, demographic attrition rates, and job placement. This data would provide new knowledge about the causes and remedies of the historical lack of diversity in student population enrolled in mechanical engineering courses.