Thermo mechanical studies of cells with nano probes on a Si substrate

该方案的目的是开发一种新型的硅衬底和一种三维力传感器，以在单个粘附点的尺度上研究单细胞的热机械行为。细胞研究包括：(A)单个粘附点的大小和强度；(B)形成粘附点的热活动；(C)细胞对施加在粘附点的热刺激的细胞间和细胞内反应。该方法是在硅衬底上形成图案化或自组装的金纳米电极(线)。电线将被一种电池粘合剂覆盖。衬底的其余部分，在导线之间，将由非粘性电池涂覆。因此，在这种底物上培养的细胞将在金丝上形成离散的粘附点，从而实现上述研究。该项目在医学和物理科学领域都产生了广泛的影响。活细胞互相粘连，形成组织和器官。细胞黏附在多种细胞功能，如生长和细胞分裂，以及血管生成等疾病进展中起着重要作用。直到今天，关于粘附点之间的合作安排和协同作用、它们的团簇大小、形状、特征长度尺度和它们的动力学的意义的知识非常少。这个项目将解决一些关于细胞黏附的尚未回答的问题，并对细胞力学和疾病进展之间的关系提供基本的见解。此外，亦会制作一套三集的录影带，向在校学生推广科学和生物纳米科技。

The objective of this proposal is to develop a novel Si substrate and a 3D force sensor to investigate thermo-mechanical behavior of single cells at the scale of a single adhesion site. The cellular investigations include: (a) size and strength of single adhesion sites; (b) thermal activities during formation of the sites; (c) inter and intra-cellular response of cells due to thermal stimuli applied at the sites. The approach is to form patterned or self assembled gold nano electrodes (wires) on a Si substrate. The wires will be coated by a cell adhesive. The rest of the substrate, between the wires, will be coated by a cell non-adhesive. Thus, cells cultured on this substrate will form discrete adhesion sites on gold wires, allowing the above studies. The project has a broad impact both on the fields of medicine and physical science. Living cells adhere to one another to form tissues and organs. Cell adhesion plays a fundamental role on a variety of cell functionality, such as growth and cell division, as well as on disease progression such as angiogenesis. Until today there is very little knowledge on the cooperative arrangements and synergistic interactions between adhesion sites, significance of their cluster size, shape, their characteristic length scales, and their dynamics. This project will address some of the yet unanswered questions on cell adhesion and provide fundamental insight on the relation between cell mechanics and disease progression. Furthermore, a video series will be developed with three episodes for the promotion of science and bio-nano-technology among school students.