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

这项促进工程变革和公平进步的研究理念（BRITE）支点奖支持基础研究，以回答骨骼如何将自身重塑为理想结构和材料的问题。骨是一种非常“智能”的结构材料，它能根据施加于其上的外力调整其成分和特性。通过自我重塑，骨骼保持其机械理想的设计，在我们的一生中支持骨骼系统。因此，更好地理解描述其自适应行为的机制不仅对改善临床治疗非常有用，而且对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，开发一种多尺度/多物理方法，专门用于解决这一长期存在的生物学问题。从这项研究中获得的知识将为设计使用压电直接矿化的“智能”材料提供策略。这种智能材料的发展可以提高各种领域设计的安全性、有效性和可负担性，包括骨替代品、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。将为高中生和大学早期学生创建一个小型会议，并在大学内为多样性，公平和包容（DEI）做出具体努力。本项目将重点利用矿化过程中胶原蛋白压电的变化来发现骨的力学转导机制。胶原I是骨的主要有机成分，在提供生物矿化的结构模板方面起着关键作用。然而，指导矿物沉积位置的潜在机制尚不清楚。该项目将测试胶原蛋白压电引导矿物沉积位置的假设。因此，将机械应力转化为电荷的能力将是针对矿物质成分和调节骨骼硬度的关键。该团队将设计一个结合先进的原子力显微镜（AFM）和微机电系统（MEMS）加载装置的实验平台，在生理负载下对胶原进行成像和生物矿化，直接观察和研究与各种条件相关的体外矿化。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 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.