Active Biological Mechanics

指导这项研究的一个中心思想是：生物系统，从单个细胞到复杂的有机体，都显示出惊人的动态和适应性的机械特性。在接下来的五年里，该计划将在两个协同主题中追求这一概念，这两个主题基于生物学和工程学的接口将如何塑造本世纪的科学：1)机械生物学：了解细胞如何产生和响应物理力量，特别是在疾病的背景下，重点是技术开发；2)活性生物材料：工程合成生物学和捕捉生物系统自组装和动态力学的新材料。

Guiding this research is one central idea: biological systems, from single cells to a complex organism, display amazing dynamic and adaptive mechanical properties. Over the next five years, this program will pursue this concept in two synergistic themes based on how the interface of biology and engineering will shape science in this century: 1) Mechanobiology: understanding how cells generate and respond to physical forces particularly in the context of disease, with an emphasis on technology development, and 2) Active Biomaterials: engineering synthetic biology and new materials that capture the self-assembly and dynamic mechanics of biological systems.