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

非技术性总结：该职业奖由佛罗里达大学材料研究部的生物材料项目颁发，旨在通过采用现代材料和工程与材料科学工具，从凝聚态物理学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，这项建议的教育目标是通过系统地将软物质主题融入本科课程和课外活动，减少机械工程学科的陈规定型观念。持续接触跨学科主题将提供给所有机械工程专业的本科生在整个职业生涯中的讲座，实验室，职业咨询，并与海洋研究实验室合作的校外实地课程的形式。 拟议的教育和研究活动是一体化的;拟议的研究中的材料将用于教学，教育战略预计将增加研究活动的潜在学生人数。拟议中的教育计划旨在改变一个传统上同质的大型领域的人口构成。教育活动针对STEM领域代表性不足的群体，并建议增加他们在学术界和工业界参与STEM相关研究。该研究为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推动生物材料研究，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。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“骨泥”，这些材料可以作为流体挤出，完全填充地形复杂的伤口，并固化非常快。技术概要：这个职业奖由佛罗里达大学材料研究部生物材料项目颁发，目的是从凝聚态物理的角度，通过使用现代材料和工程与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（ENG/CMMI）的生物力学和机械生物学项目共同资助。拟议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。电池组件将通过将结构直接挤压成屈服应力材料的体积来进行3D打印。屈服应力材料在施加的应力较低时为固体;当应力较高时为流体。细胞和屈服应力材料的组合提供了前所未有的控制变量，如大小，形状，对称性，和多细胞结构的拓扑结构。该提案的主要重点是研究：（1）简单结构中的机械不稳定性，以分类和测量集体细胞力;以及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。所提出的屈服应力细胞生物材料的研究是重要的，因为它：（1）创建了一个上级平台，用于进行3D细胞动力学的基础研究;（2）创建了一个新的生物材料类别，以前从来没有研究过;和（3）探索集体细胞动力学的基本方面，以前不能做由于可用的支持材料的限制。拟议的活动是建立在一个新的概念，打破了既定的范式在细胞生物材料，潜在的进步知识的基础组织力学和生理学，组织培养方法学，细胞生物材料科学和工程领域。建议的教育工作包括广泛的数据收集的学生的角度来看，机械工程，人口流失率，就业安置。这些数据将提供有关机械工程课程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.