Tools To Study Cell Motility and Ion Channels

描述(申请人提供)：这项研究将研究两个领域：细胞运动机制和细胞膜中离子通道的分子作用。它有三个特定的焦点：i)哺乳动物细胞的运动性；ii)细菌细胞的运动性；以及iii)离子通道的电生理。这项工作还将开发新的实验方法来研究这些生物现象和过程。这些发展将强调使用软光刻、自组装单分子膜(SAM)、微流体和电化学的组合制造的微工具。这些项目通过三个共同的主题联系在一起：动力、传感和用于生物/生物化学的新型微型制造工具。这项工作将有三个广泛的结果。它将阐明哺乳动物和细菌细胞运动的分子和细胞生理机制。它将为研究离子通道提供新的系统，它将开发新的工具来支持这些研究，并在生物学问题的背景下演示这些工具。这些研究与许多生物学领域有关，在这些领域中，了解细胞运动和细胞传感机制非常重要；从发育、转移、血管生成和传染病的基础研究，到基于细胞的传感器和高通量铅筛选工具的应用。这项工作横跨生物学、微制造和生物物理学，研究的一个重要成果将是在生物和物理科学方面接受过广泛培训的学生。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This research will study two areas: Mechanisms of cell motility, and molecular action of ion channels in cell membranes. It has three specific foci: i) the motility of mammalian cells; ii) the motility of bacterial cells; and iii) electrophysioiogy of ion channels. The work will also develop new experimental methods for examining these biological phenomena and processes. These developments will emphasize microtools, fabricated using a combination of soft lithography, self-assembled monolayers (SAMs), microfluidics, and electrochemistry. These projects are tied together by three common themes: motility, sensing, and new, microfabricated tools for biology/biochemistry. The work will have three broad outcomes. It will clarify the molecular and cell physiological mechanisms of motility in mammalian and bacterial cells. It will provide new systems for studying ion channels, it will develop new tools to support these studies, and demonstrate these tools in the context of biological problems. These studies are relevant to a number of areas of biology in which an understanding of the mechanisms of cellular motility and cellular sensing are important; from fundamental studies of development, metastasis, angiogenesis, and infectious disease to applications in cell-based sensors and tools for high-throughput screening of leads. The work spans biology, microfabrication, and biophysics, and an important product of the research will be students broadly trained in biological and physical sciences.