Research Initiation Award: Spatial organization and temporal coordination involved in secretory vesicle trafficking and exocytosis in live cells

研究启动奖为传统黑人学院和大学的初级和中期职业教师提供支持，他们正在建立新的研究项目或重新指导和重建现有项目。期望该奖项有助于提高教师的研究能力和效率，改善所在机构的研究和教学，并使本科生参与研究经验。该奖项授予霍华德大学，旨在揭示时空信息如何被细胞整合和利用，以影响促进细胞物质排出的信号通路（胞外作用），并将使研究人员更好地了解胞外作用如何使细胞与其他细胞、组织和细胞外空间进行通信。胞吐是一种基本的细胞行为，在真核生物和其他细胞类型中普遍存在。本研究的目的是为了更好地了解蛋白质、脂质和肌动蛋白细胞骨架网络如何作为组织“元素”调节胞吐作用。荧光显微镜将用于建立对控制生物物理原理的空间和时间要求的理解，这些原理组织细胞膜并影响调节胞吐等生物过程。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Research Initiation Awards provide support for junior and mid-career faculty at Historically Black Colleges and Universities who are building new research programs or redirecting and rebuilding existing programs. It is expected that the award helps to further the faculty member's research capability and effectiveness, improves research and teaching at the home institution, and involves undergraduate students in research experiences. The award to Howard University aims to reveal how spatiotemporal information is integrated and used by cells to affect signaling pathways promoting expulsion of substances from cells (exocytosis) and will enable researchers to better understand how exocytosis allows cells to communicate with other cells, tissues, and the extracellular space. Exocytosis is a fundamental cellular behavior that is ubiquitous across eukaryotes and other cell types. The goal of this study is to provide a better understanding of how proteins, lipids, and the actin cytoskeleton network act as organizing "elements" regulating exocytosis. Fluorescence microscopy will be utilized to establish an understanding of the spatial and temporal requirements governing the biophysical principles that organize cell membranes and influence biological processes like regulated exocytosis.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.