BRITE Pivot: Investigating the Role of Collagen Piezoelectricity in Biomineralization Enhanced by Force Inputs

BRITE Pivot：研究胶原蛋白压电性在力输入增强的生物矿化中的作用

• 批准号: 2227527
• 负责人: Hanna Cho
• 金额: $ 54.8万
• 依托单位: Ohio State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-01-01 至 2025-12-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2227527&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: BRITE; Pivot; Investigating; Role; Collagen

This Boosting Research Ideas for Transformative and Equitable Advances in Engineering (BRITE) Pivot award supports fundamental research to answer the question of how bone remodels itself into an ideal structure and material. Bone is an extraordinarily ‘smart’ structural material, adapting its composition and properties in response to external forces applied to it. By remodeling itself, bone maintains its mechanically ideal design to support the skeletal system throughout our lifetime. As such, a better understanding of the mechanism to describe its adaptive behavior is extremely useful not only for improving clinical treatment but also for mimicking its design strategy for various engineering applications. This project will employ state-of-the-art techniques matured in the field of micro/nano-technology to develop a multi-scale/multi-physical method specifically designed to address this long-standing biological question. The knowledge obtained from this study will provide strategies to design ‘smart’ materials using piezoelectricity to direct mineralization. The development of such smart materials could improve the safety, effectiveness, and affordability of designs in diverse fields, including bone substitutes, bio-materials, robotics, the automotive industry, clinical treatments, and electronics. The project will support the local community, providing research opportunities for undergraduate students and through the Korean-American society. A mini-conference for high school and early college students will be created as well as specific efforts in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) at the University.This project will focus on discovering bone’s mechano-transduction mechanism using changes in collagen piezo-electricity during the process of mineralization. Collagen I is bone’s main organic constituent and has a pivotal role in providing the structural template for bio-mineralization. However, the underlying mechanism directing the locations of mineral deposition are not known. The project will test the hypothesis that collagen piezo-electricity guides the locations of mineral deposition. The ability to convert mechanical stress into electric charge would therefore be key to targeting the mineral constituents and modulating bone stiffness. The team will design an experimental platform combining an advanced Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) and a micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) loading device to image and biomineralization of collagen under physiological loading to directly observe and investigate in-vitro mineralization correlated with various conditions.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.

这个促进工程变革和公平进步的研究思路（BRITE）枢轴奖支持基础研究，以回答骨骼如何重塑成理想结构和材料的问题。骨是一种非常“智能”的结构材料，其组成和特性能够根据施加在其上的外力进行调整。通过重塑自身，骨保持其机械上的理想设计，以支持骨骼系统贯穿我们的一生。因此，更好地理解描述其自适应行为的机制不仅对于改善临床治疗非常有用，而且对于模仿其设计策略用于各种工程应用也非常有用。该项目将采用微/纳米技术领域成熟的最先进技术，开发一种专门用于解决这一长期存在的生物学问题的多尺度/多物理方法。从这项研究中获得的知识将提供策略，设计“智能”材料，利用压电直接矿化。此类智能材料的开发可以提高各个领域设计的安全性、有效性和可负担性，包括骨骼替代品、生物材料、机器人、汽车工业、临床治疗和电子产品。该项目将支持当地社区，为本科生和韩裔美国人社会提供研究机会。为高中生和大学新生举办的小型会议将在大学里开展多样性、公平性和包容性（DEI）方面的具体工作。该项目将专注于利用矿化过程中胶原蛋白压电性的变化来发现骨的机械传导机制。胶原蛋白I是骨的主要有机成分，在为生物矿化提供结构模板方面具有关键作用。然而，指导矿物沉积位置的基本机制尚不清楚。 该项目将测试胶原蛋白压电指导矿物质沉积位置的假设。因此，将机械应力转化为电荷的能力将是靶向矿物质成分和调节骨硬度的关键。该团队将设计一个实验平台，结合先进的原子力显微镜（AFM）和微机电系统（MEMS）加载装置，对生理负载下的胶原蛋白进行成像和生物矿化，以直接观察和研究-该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值进行评估，更广泛的影响审查标准。

项目成果

Nanomechanical Characterization of Bone Quality Depending on Tissue Age via Bimodal Atomic Force Microscopy

• DOI: 10.1007/s41871-023-00208-3
• 发表时间: 2023-08
• 期刊: Nanomanufacturing and Metrology
• 作者: Jinha Kwon;Hanna Cho