RUI: Mechanoregulation of Collective Cell Migration in Biomimetic Microenvironments

这个本科院校促进研究（RUI）项目支持研究集体细胞迁移的基础研究，这是胚胎发育、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尚不清楚。本项目将研究工程仿生微环境中机械力与生化因子之间的关系。这项研究的结果将增强我们对细胞迁移这一关键生物学过程的理解。所开发的方法将有助于设计用于疾病建模和生物医学研究的分子生物传感器和三维细胞培养。这项研究将有助于基础科学和生物医学研究的进步。教育活动包括课程设置、暑期研究机会和K-12拓展活动。为了扩大该项目的参与范围，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。将特别强调妇女和代表性不足的少数群体。该项目的目的是利用微工程平台，包括新型复合纳米生物传感技术和工程三维仿生微环境，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。总体目标是阐明在集体细胞迁移过程中压缩应力和基质刚度如何与非编码rna（或ncRNAs）相互作用。本研究将实现三个目标：开发一种用于检测单细胞水平非编码rna的新型多重纳米生物传感器，阐明ncRNAs的机械敏感作用及其与生物物理因子的相互作用，研究这些ncRNAs如何调节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ncrna响应生物物理因素的基本机制的理解。从该项目中获得的知识将为集体细胞迁移的机械调节基本原理提供新的信息和新见解，并为推进我们对ncrna新兴作用的理解奠定重要基础。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 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.