RUI: Mechanoregulation of Collective Cell Migration in Biomimetic Microenvironments

这个促进本科生机构研究(RUI)项目支持研究集体细胞迁移的基础研究，集体细胞迁移是胚胎发育、伤口愈合、组织再生和癌症转移的关键过程。在这种迁移过程中，机械力和生化因素之间的相互作用还没有被很好地理解。本项目将研究工程化仿生微环境中机械力与生化因素之间的相关性。这项研究的结果将加深我们对细胞迁移的理解，这是一个关键的生物学过程。开发的方法将有助于设计分子生物传感器和三维细胞培养，用于疾病建模和生物医学研究。这项研究将有助于推动基础科学和生物医学研究的发展。教育活动包括制定课程、暑期研究机会和K-12外联活动。为了扩大该项目的参与，将招募高中生和本科生参与该项目，为他们提供实践培训和指导计划。将特别重视妇女和代表不足的少数群体。本项目的目标是利用包括新型复合纳米生物传感技术和工程3D仿生微环境在内的微工程平台来研究集体细胞迁移过程中机械力和生化因素之间的相关性。主要目标是阐明在集体细胞迁移过程中，压应力和基质硬度如何与非编码RNA(或ncRNAs)相互作用。这项研究将实现三个目标：开发一种新型的在单细胞水平上检测非编码RNA的复合纳米生物传感器，阐明ncRNAs的机械敏感作用及其与生物物理因素的相互作用，以及研究这些ncRNAs如何调控三维仿生微环境中的集体细胞迁移。该项目的完成将促进对ncRNAs对生物物理因素作出反应的基本机制的理解。从这个项目中获得的知识将为集体细胞迁移中的机械调节的基本原则提供新的信息和新的见解，并为促进我们对ncRNA正在出现的作用的理解奠定重要基础。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This Facilitating Research at Primarily Undergraduate Institutions (RUI) project supports fundamental research to study collective cell migration, a crucial process in embryonic development, wound healing, tissue regeneration, and cancer metastasis. The interplay between mechanical force and biochemical factors during this migration is not well understood. This project will study the correlation between mechanical force and biochemical factors in engineered biomimetic microenvironments. The results from this research will enhance our understanding of cell migration, a key biological process. The methods developed will assist in designing molecular biosensors and three-dimensional cell cultures for disease modeling and biomedical research. This research will contribute to the advancement of fundamental science and biomedical research. Educational activities include the development of course curricula, summer research opportunities, and K-12 outreach activities. To widen the project's participation, high school and undergraduate students will be recruited to participate in this project by offering them hands-on training and mentoring programs. Special emphasis will be placed on women and underrepresented minority (URM) groups. The objective of this project is to investigate the correlation between mechanical force and biochemical factors during collective cell migration using a micro-engineered platform, including novel multiplex nanobiosensing techniques and engineered 3D biomimetic microenvironment. The overarching goal is to elucidate how compressive stress and matrix stiffness interact with non-coding RNAs (or ncRNAs) during collective cell migration. This research will achieve three objectives: developing a novel multiplex nanobiosensor for detecting non-coding RNAs at a single-cell level, elucidating the mechanosensitive role of ncRNAs and their interaction with biophysical factors, and investigating how these ncRNAs regulate collective cell migration in 3D biomimetic microenvironments. Completion of this project will advance the understanding of fundamental mechanisms by which ncRNAs respond to biophysical factors. The knowledge gained from this project will provide novel information and new insights of the fundamental principles of mechano-regulation in collective cell migration and establish an important foundation for advancing our understanding of the emerging role of ncRNAs.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.