RUI: Biomimetic Self-Assembly: Physical State and the Barrier Function to Water Permeation

美国国家科学基金会化学部的大分子、超分子和纳米化学计划支持爱奥纳学院的李成熙教授研究微米级液-液界面的超分子自组装如何控制水的通过。这项研究促进了我们对活细胞如何选择性地保留和释放水分的理解。这样的水分控制机制不仅对于了解生命的起源至关重要，而且对于了解皮肤和肾脏等主要器官的功能也是至关重要的。更广泛地说，该项目有可能有助于人类健康和清洁水的应用，这些应用依赖于保留和消除水和废物。这项研究为该项目中的大量本科生研究参与者提供了培训。研究团队通过为高中生和教师开发外展研讨会和科学研讨会，激励和吸引学生进入科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)领域，特别是那些来自代表性不足群体的学生，进一步扩大了他们工作的影响。李教授和她的学生前往日本东京大学，进行高通量器件制造的实验，获得全球科学视角。这项研究的重点是阐明微米级液-液界面上的超分子自组装如何成为水通过的可控屏障。由李教授和IONA学院的本科生组成的研究团队将通过实验活动来研究水运动的方向性，以及在原细胞模型中渗透性和稳定性之间的平衡，这些实验活动旨在确定渗透率参数和渗透流的激活能、电容和泄漏电流的电特性、扩散水渗透率和粘附能。成功完成后，这项研究可以为脂质不对称如何在生物水分动态平衡中发挥作用，以及在益生细胞模型中稳定性和渗透性之间的平衡提供基本的见解。这一奖项反映了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。

The Macromolecular, Supramolecular, and Nanochemistry Program in the Chemistry Division at the National Science Foundation supports Professor Sunghee Lee of Iona College to study how supramolecular self-assemblies at micrometer-sized liquid-liquid interfaces control the passage of water. The study promotes our understanding of how living cells can selectively retain and release their water content. Such water controlling mechanisms are essential to understanding not only life's origins but also the functions of major organs such as the skin and kidneys. More broadly, the project has a potential to contribute to human health and clean water applications that rely on the retention and elimination of water and waste. The research enables training for a large number of undergraduate research participants in the project. The research team further broadens the impact of their work by developing outreach seminars and science symposia for high school students and teachers that inspire and engage students to enter science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, particularly those from underrepresented groups. Professor Lee and her students travel to the University of Tokyo in Japan to conduct experiments on high-throughput device fabrication obtaining a global perspective on science. This research is focused on elucidating how supramolecular self-assemblies at micron-sized liquid-liquid interfaces can serve as controllable barriers for the passage of water. The team of researchers, Professor Lee and undergraduate students at Iona College, will investigate the directionality of the water movement, and balance between permeability and stability in protocell models through experimental activities strategized to determine the water permeability parameters and energy of activation for osmotic flow, electrical properties of capacitance and leakage current, diffusional water permeability, and adhesion energy. Upon successful completion, this research could provide fundamental insights into how lipid asymmetry plays a role in organismal water homeostasis, and the balance between stability and permeability in prebiotic cellular models.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.