RII Track-1: ND-ACES: New Discoveries in the Advanced Interface of Computation, Engineering, and Science

为了使北达科他州除农业和能源以外的经济多样化，ND-ACES将在生物科学领域产生新的知识并提高司法竞争力，特别是与癌症治疗相关的领域。一个关键的焦点是提高对生物组织和生物材料之间的接触区域或生物界面的了解。支架生物材料将被设计成在生物界面刺激新组织的生长。ND-ACES将通过多个科学和工程领域的合作来优化生物界面的设计，包括材料科学、细胞生物学和生物化学、医学和计算建模。计算工具将允许对3D癌症肿瘤环境和由此产生的细胞反应进行建模。这些研究将解决在肿瘤生长、转移和治疗反应的背景下增加对细胞和表面之间相互作用的迫切需要。ND-ACES将加强研究资源，并在北达科他州培养具有计算技能的劳动力。在这个项目的五年期间，来自北达科他州十个学术机构的不同研究人员和学生将参加研究和教育活动，这些机构包括四个部落学院、三个主要本科机构和一所硕士大学。该项目将与行业和其他利益攸关方建立伙伴关系，培养一支训练有素的劳动力队伍，能够满足北达科他州及其他地区的生物科学需求。北达科他州EPSCoR研究基础设施改进Track-1项目ND-ACES将使用计算建模来提高对生物和工程材料生物界面的跨学科理解；扩大新型细胞生长和分析范式方面的专业知识，以模拟癌症肿瘤的体内环境；促进研究/计算能力；通过产品、伙伴关系和与不同利益攸关方的合作，支持将研究转化为使用；并为北达科他州的公民提供信息。ND-ACES建立了研究能力，以更好地理解管理体外生物界面的设计规则，并影响围绕癌细胞和肿瘤的生物化学和细胞生物学的理解的体内决策。通过计算创建的设计规则可以提高细胞对材料表面特征的响应的可预测性，并为应对许多生物科学挑战提供基础信息。因此，将计算建模作为一种重要的研究工具进行集成，可以进行比试错方法更广泛的测试。ND-ACES的努力包括所有十个参与机构的教职员工和学生参与合作研究、早期职业发展、教育增强和外展，以提高早期职业教师的能力，增加先进的科学计算能力，并扩大STEM本科生和研究生的参与和数量。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

In order to diversify North Dakota’s economy beyond agriculture and energy, ND-ACES will generate new knowledge and increase jurisdictional competitiveness in bioscience areas, particularly those related to cancer therapies. A key focus is the improved understanding of the region of contact, or biointerface, between a biological tissue and a biomaterial. Scaffold biomaterials will be designed that stimulate the growth of new tissue at the biointerface. ND-ACES will optimize the design of biointerfaces through a collaboration among multiple fields of sciences and engineering, including materials science, cell biology and biochemistry, medicine, and computational modeling. Computational tools will allow the modeling of the 3D cancerous tumor environment and resulting cellular responses. These studies will address the urgent need to increase the understanding of interactions between cells and surfaces in the context of tumor growth, metastasis, and response to therapies. ND-ACES will enhance research resources and develop the computationally skilled workforce in North Dakota. During the five years of this project, a diverse group of researchers and students from ten academic institutions in North Dakota, including four tribal colleges, three primarily undergraduate institutions, and one master’s university, will participate in the research and educational activities. This project will forge partnerships with industries and other stakeholders and prepare a well-trained workforce capable of meeting the needs of bioscience in North Dakota and beyond.The North Dakota EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement Track-1 project, ND-ACES, will use computational modeling to develop improved interdisciplinary understanding of biological and engineered materials biointerfaces; expand expertise in novel cellular growth and analysis paradigms for mimicking the in vivo environment of cancerous tumors; catalyze research/computing capabilities; support the translation of research into use through products, partnerships, and collaborations with various stakeholders; and inform North Dakota's citizens. ND-ACES builds research capacity to better understand design rules that govern in vitro biointerfaces and influence in vivo decisions surrounding the understanding of biochemistry and the cell biology of cancer cells and tumors. Computationally created design rules can enhance predictability of cellular responses to material surface characteristics and provide fundamental information to address many bioscience challenges. Thus, the integration of computational modeling as a prominent research tool allows for more extensive testing than possible with trial-and-error methods. ND-ACES efforts incorporate both faculty and students at all ten participating institutions in collaborative research, early career development, education enhancement, and outreach to increase the abilities of early career faculty, increase advanced scientific computing capabilities, and broaden the participation and number of STEM undergraduate and graduate students.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.