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

非技术概述：这个由材料研究部生物材料项目授予佛罗里达大学的职业奖项是从凝聚态物理的角度通过使用现代材料和工程学和材料科学的工具来研究生物系统。该奖项由土木、机械和制造创新部门(ENG/CMMI)的生物力学和机械生物学项目共同资助。为了招收和留住多样化的学生群体，这项建议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，减少对机械工程学科的刻板印象。所有机械工程专业的本科生在其本科职业生涯中将通过讲座、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一体化的；拟议研究中的材料将用于教学，教育战略预计将增加潜在的研究活动学生人数。拟议的教育计划是为了改变一个庞大的、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，并建议增加他们在学术界和工业界对STEM相关研究的参与。这项研究为3D细胞培养创造了一个新的平台，具有潜在的社会效益；开发一种新的有效的细胞生物材料可能会促进生物材料研究、生物医学研究、生物医学技术和医学。最有可能的潜在影响将发生在伤口愈合和组织工程技术方面。例如，在急性创伤的治疗中，生物相容的屈服应力材料可能是理想的伤口愈合支架。技术总结：佛罗里达大学材料研究部生物材料计划授予佛罗里达大学的这一职业奖项是从凝聚态物理的角度出发，利用现代材料和工程学和材料科学的工具，从凝聚态物理的角度研究生物系统。该奖项由土木、机械和制造创新部门(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、拓扑学和对称性的基本物理学来研究组织细胞动力学。电池组件将通过将结构直接挤压成体积屈服应力材料来进行3D打印。屈服应力材料在应力较低时为固体，在应力较高时为流体。细胞和屈服应力材料的结合提供了对多细胞结构中的大小、形状、对称性和拓扑等变量的前所未有的控制。这一建议的主要重点是研究：(1)简单结构中的机械不稳定性，以分类和测量集体细胞作用力；以及2)复杂多细胞结构的对称性和拓扑在集体细胞动力学中的作用。对屈服应力细胞生物材料的拟议研究具有重要意义，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)创造了一类前所未有的生物材料；(3)探索了集体细胞动力学的基本方面，这些方面以前由于可用支持材料的限制而无法完成。拟议的活动基于一种新的概念，它打破了细胞生物材料的既定模式，潜在地促进了基础组织力学和生理学、组织培养方法学以及细胞生物材料科学和工程领域的知识。拟议的教育努力包括广泛收集学生对机械工程的观点、人口流失率和就业安置的数据。这些数据将提供有关机械工程课程注册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.