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

该奖项全部或部分由《2021年美国救援计划法案》（公法117-2）资助。自发个体协调而产生的突发性集体行为是自然界一个普遍而重要的主题。集体行为发生在从有机体到细胞和细胞器的层面。在心脏起搏器细胞的同步放电、昆虫群和鱼群中都可以观察到它们。集体行为出现的一个重要例子是运动纤毛中有节奏的协调波的出现。纤毛是毛发状的附属物，从微小的原核生物到哺乳动物，它们都能使流体泵送和运动。它们具有多种功能，如清除呼吸道中的污染物、听力或将卵子从卵巢运送到受精。该奖项将支持北卡罗来纳大学格林斯博罗分校的Ahmed博士合成第一个化学动力，独立自主，自我推进的人造纤毛，制作生物纤毛模型，并为进一步研究与生物纤毛相关的操作打开大门。此外，该项目将为来自科学领域代表性不足的群体的研究生和本科生提供参与新颖跨学科研究的机会。理论工作支持了普遍的假设，即纤毛中的协调集体波是自主个体纤毛之间流体动力耦合的结果。这一假设的实验支持尚未在生物系统或人工纤毛中得到证实。生物纤毛不提供灵活性，以改变结构参数来解耦纤毛和梳理出机械细节的出现。人工纤毛提供了定制组织的灵活性和观察集体行为出现的速度。该奖项将支持首个化学动力、自主人工纤毛的合成，产生生物纤毛模型，这将代表着理解运动纤毛集体行为的出现、运动效率和纤毛游泳者各种参数的结构-功能关系的重要一步。艾哈迈德博士还将参加当地学校的K-12科学推广活动，这些活动为来自科学领域代表性不足群体的学生提供服务，目的是激发他们在年轻时对科学的兴趣。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.