LEAPS-MPS: Investigation of the Mechanism of Emergence of Collective Behavior in Motile Cilia Using Model Artificial Cilia

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This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). Emergent collective behaviors resulting from the coordination of autonomous individual entities is a universal and important theme in the natural world. Collective behaviors occur from the level of organisms to the level of cells and organelles. They are observed in the synchronous firing of pacemaker heart cells, the swarming of insects and the schooling of fish. A critical example of the emergence of collective behaviors is the appearance of rhythmic coordinated waves in motile cilia. Cilia are hair-like appendages that enable fluid pumping and locomotion in organisms as varied as microscopic prokaryotes to mammals. They carry out diverse functions such as the removal of contaminants from airways, in hearing or in the transport of an egg from the ovaries for fertilization. This award will support Dr. Ahmed at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro to synthesize the first chemically powered, individually autonomous, self-propelled artificial cilia, producing a model for biological cilia and open the door for further investigations related to the operation of biological cilia. In addition, the project will present an opportunity for graduate and undergraduate students from groups that are underrepresented in the sciences to partake in novel interdisciplinary research. Theoretical work has supported the prevailing hypothesis that coordinated collective waves in cilia emerge as a result of hydrodynamic coupling between autonomous individual cilia. Experimental support of this hypothesis has not yet been demonstrated either within biological systems or artificial cilia. Biological cilia do not offer the flexibility to vary structural parameters to decouple cilia and tease out the mechanistic details of emergence. Artificial cilia offer the flexibility to customize organization and speed to observe the emergence of collective behaviors. This award will support the synthesis of the first chemically powered, autonomous artificial cilia producing a model for biological cilia, which will represent a significant step forward in the understanding of the emergence of collective behaviors in motile cilia, the efficiency of their motion and the structure-function relationship of various parameters on ciliated swimmers. Dr. Ahmed will also take part in K-12 scientific outreach activities in local schools that serve students from underrepresented groups in the sciences, with the aim of kindling their interest in the sciences at a young age.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.