FIBR: Understanding Multicellular Self-Assembly

Gabor Forgacs，密苏里-哥伦比亚大学Ioan Kosztin，密苏里-哥伦比亚大学Roger Markwald，南卡罗来纳州医科大学，查尔斯顿Vladimir Mironov，南卡罗来纳州医科大学，查尔斯顿Adrian Neagu，密苏里-哥伦比亚大学和罗马尼亚Temesoara医科大学Stuart A.纽曼，纽约医学院，Prestwich，犹他州大学，盐湖自组装是生物系统进化和任何特定有机体发育中最基本的机制之一。它驱动着从最小到最大的过程：蛋白质亚基组装成纤维，胚胎细胞组装成器官原基，器官原基组装成组织和器官。生物的自我组装是在基因的控制下进行的，但基因并不创造形状，也不移动物质，而是物理机制。这个跨学科的项目旨在通过解剖分子和生物物理因素之间的相互作用来发现多细胞水平上的自组装原理，这些因素驱动细胞和组织组织进入器官，并利用所获得的知识来指导器官模块的形成：特定形状的功能性三维生命结构。发现的多细胞组织的原则将作为通过“生物打印”构建功能模块的基础：将活细胞或其聚集体作为“生物墨水”颗粒生物相容地递送到“支架-生物纸”中。“该项目的产品将是多细胞自组装和功能性三维生物结构的一般原理。概述的计划将整合基础科学与工程，建模与实验和研究与教育。参与该项目的学生将接受培训，为进入当今就业市场的生命科学研究人员所面临的多重挑战做好准备。特别是，他们将成为“多语言”：能够沟通和合作，在几个科学学科的专家。该项目的成功完成将有助于我们对生物组织的一般知识，以及我们指导和利用这些过程的能力，以便为基础科学目的开发功能性生物结构。 通过这个项目阐明的自组装原理将为未来器官构建和替代的可能性提供其他研究的基础。通过互动展览，它还将帮助公众了解科学的进程和科学家的工作，特别是作为一个综合的多学科团队的一部分，试图解决一个广泛感兴趣的问题。

Gabor Forgacs, University of Missouri-ColumbiaIoan Kosztin, University of Missouri-ColumbiaRoger Markwald, Medical University of South Carolina, CharlestonVladimir Mironov, Medical University of South Carolina, CharlestonAdrian Neagu, University of Missouri-Columbia and Medical University of Temesoara, RomaniaStuart A. Newman, New York Medical College, Valhalla Glenn D. Prestwich, University of Utah, Salt Lake CitySelf-assembly is among the most fundamental mechanisms in the evolution of biological systems and the development of any particular organism. It drives processes across scales from the smallest to the largest: protein subunits assemble into fibers, embryonic cells assemble into organ primordia, organ primordia assemble into tissues and organs. Biological self-assembly is under genetic control, but genes do not create shape and do not move matter around: physical mechanisms do. This cross-disciplinary project is aimed at discovering principles of self-assembly at the multicellular level by dissecting the interplay between molecular and biophysical factors driving the organization of cells and tissues into organs, and employing the garnered knowledge to direct the formation of organ modules: functional three-dimensional living structures of specific shape. The discovered principles of multicellular organization will serve as the basis for the construction of functional modules by "bioprinting": the biologically compatible delivery of living cells or their aggregates as "bioink" particles into the "scaffold-biopaper." The products of the project will be generalizable principles of multicellular self-assembly and functional three-dimensional biological structures. The outlined program will integrate basic sciences with engineering, modeling with experiments and research with education. Students involved in this project will go through training that will prepare them for the multiple challenges facing researchers in the life sciences entering today's job market. In particular, they will become "multilingual": able to communicate and collaborate with experts in several scientific disciplines. The successful completion of this project will contribute to our knowledge of biological organization in general, and our ability to guide and thus employ these processes so as to develop functional biological structures for basic science purposes. The principles of self-assembly illuminated through this project will provide a foundation on which other research canbe conducted into possibilities for future organ building and replacement. Through interactive exhibits, it will also help the public understand the process of science and what scientists do, especially as part of an integrated multidisciplinary team trying to tackle a problem of broad interest.