CREST Center for Cellular and Biomolecular Machines

生物特征和传感中心科学技术卓越研究中心（CREST）计划通过建立有效整合教育和研究的中心，支持提高少数民族服务机构的研究能力。 CREST促进新知识的发展，提高个别教师的研究生产力，并扩大历史上在科学，技术，工程和数学学科中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-默塞德大学在细胞和生物分子机器中心（CCBM）第一阶段的成功基础上，实现了机构转型和新的科学视野。 在第二阶段，该中心将采用跨学科的方法，跨越科学和工程方法：追求多尺度生物分子和细胞组装的适应性和响应性功能的基本理解，使体内功能的控制;使用这些基本原则设计和开发新的生物启发功能机器，从设计师纳米器件，细胞和组织到诊断和治疗设备;·完善、增强和制度化CCBM的签名集成，跨学科研究生培训计划，将科学和专业技能与本科生和高中生的研究和培训经验相结合，旨在加强和发展STEM领域代表性不足的少数民族的职业机会。该中心的目标是为各级STEM劳动力中代表性不足的少数民族开发一个强大的管道，并培养物理和生物科学的毕业生，并可以在学术界，实验室或工业界从事跨学科的STEM职业。根据其规模（纳米，中，多细胞）提出并定义了三个推力。 推力1：蛋白质变形和响应纳米器件。 第二阶段的研究重点是蛋白质变形作为机制，使自然和合成可控的生物纳米器件，组织在两个广泛的领域：逐渐变形的蛋白质的功能作用的新兴主题;和生物大分子组件的组装-拆卸控制系统的工程。 推力2：适应性和响应性中尺度组件。 在第二阶段，重点是理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。第三个目标：自适应蜂窝通信。 第二阶段将结合实验和建模方法，研究细胞与细胞和细胞与基质之间的机械相互作用对集体细胞运动、模式化和功能出现的影响。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

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.