CREST Center for Cellular and Biomolecular Machines

生物签名和传感中心科学和技术卓越研究中心(CREST)计划通过建立有效整合教育和研究的中心，支持增强少数群体服务机构的研究能力。CREST促进了新知识的发展，提高了个别教师的研究效率，并扩大了在科学、技术、工程和数学学科中历来代表性不足的学生的存在。在国家科学基金会的支持下，加州大学默塞德分校在细胞和生物分子机器中心(CCBM)第一阶段的成功基础上，带来了制度转型和新的科学视野。在第二阶段，该中心将使用跨越科学和工程方法的跨学科方法：·寻求对能够控制体内功能的多尺度生物分子和细胞组件的适应和响应功能的基本了解；·使用这些基本原则设计和开发从设计者纳米设备、细胞和组织到诊断和治疗设备的新型生物启发功能机器；·完善、完善和制度化CCBM标志性的跨学科综合研究生培训计划，该计划将科学和专业技能与对本科生和高中生的研究和培训经验的监督相结合，旨在增强和发展STEM领域中代表性不足的少数民族的职业机会。通过整合研究和教育，该中心旨在为各级STEM劳动力中代表不足的少数民族发展强大的渠道，培养物理和生物科学的毕业生，并可以在学术界、实验室或行业从事跨学科的STEM职业。提出并根据其规模(纳米、中观和多细胞)定义三个主题。推力1：蛋白质变形和响应性纳米设备。第二阶段的研究侧重于蛋白质变形这一新兴主题，将其作为实现自然和合成可控生物纳米设备的机制，分为两大领域：逐渐变形的蛋白质的功能作用；以及生物大分子组装-拆解控制系统的工程设计。推力2：适应性和响应性中尺度集合。在第二阶段，重点是了解使程序集能够以自适应和响应的方式共同发挥作用的机制，以及将它们用于应用程序。推力3：自适应蜂窝通信。第二阶段将结合实验和建模方法，研究细胞-细胞和细胞-基质的机械相互作用对集体细胞运动、构图和功能出现的影响。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。

Center for Biological Signatures and SensingThe Centers of Research Excellence in Science and Technology (CREST) program supports the enhancement of research capabilities of minority-serving institutions through the establishment of centers that effectively integrate education and research. CREST promotes the development of new knowledge, enhancements of the research productivity of individual faculty, and an expanded presence of students historically underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines. With National Science Foundation support, the University of California – Merced builds on the successes of the Center for Cellular and Biomolecular Machines (CCBM) Phase I, leading to institutional transformation and new scientific horizons. In Phase II, the Center will use an interdisciplinary approach cutting across scientific and engineering methodologies to:•pursue a fundamental understanding of the adaptive and responsive functioning of multi-scale biomolecular and cellular assemblies that enable control of function in vivo; •use these fundamental principles for designing and developing novel bio-inspired functioning machines ranging from designer nanodevices, cells and tissue to diagnostic and therapeutic devices; and•refine, augment, and institutionalize CCBM’s signature integrated, interdisciplinary graduate training program that combines scientific and professional skills with supervision of research and training experiences for undergraduate and high school students aimed at enhancing and developing career opportunities for underrepresented minorities in STEM fields.By integrating research and education, the Center aims to develop a robust pipeline for underrepresented minorities in the STEM workforce at all levels and produce graduates in both physical and biological sciences and can pursue cross-disciplinary STEM careers in academia, laboratories or industry.Three thrusts are presented and defined according to their scale (nano, meso, and multicellular). Thrust 1: Protein Metamorphosis and Responsive Nanodevices. Phase II research focuses on the emerging theme of protein metamorphosis as mechanism to enable natural and synthetic controllable biological nanodevices, organized in two broad areas: the functional roles of gradually morphing proteins; and engineering of control systems of the assembly-disassembly of biological macromolecular assemblies. Thrust 2: Adaptive and Responsive Mesoscale Assemblies. In Phase II, the focus is to understand the mechanisms that enable assemblies to function collectively in adaptive and responsive ways as well as exploiting them for applications. Thrust 3: Adaptive Cellular Communication. Phase II will examine the impact of cell-cell and cell-matrix mechanical interactions on collective cell motility, patterning and the emergence of function, combining experimental and modeling approaches.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.