Biomolecular Materials: Structure, Phase Behavior, & Interactions

非技术：该奖项由加州大学圣巴巴拉分校（UCSB）材料研究部生物材料项目颁发，旨在发现和理解神经元内部形成的结构。神经细胞内以蛋白质为基础的骨骼结构是多功能的；例如，它们为神经元提供机械稳定性，同时使分子（例如神经递质）从细胞体有效运输到突触区域，这是一项关键功能，可以实现神经元之间的通信。这个项目的无细胞研究，通过精心挑选的神经元来源的蛋白质（和蛋白质的变异），将导致鉴定组装正确或异常的细胞骨架结构的蛋白质成分。这些研究是重要的，因为细胞骨架结构的畸变总是导致神经退行性变。研究团队成员都参与了项目的教育培训部分，通过在UCSB的科学和工程实习拓展计划。UCSB的本科生、社区学院和国家级高校的暑期实习本科生参加该项目。研究小组的外展活动还包括为当地高中教师提供指导和教育研究经验。技术：该奖项旨在发展对源自神经元的微管蛋白、微管和微管相关蛋白混合物的非平衡相行为和结构的科学理解。在不同的神经元室（即轴突、细胞体和树突）中观察到的异质动态微观结构的功能意义尚不清楚。因此，无细胞研究的意义在于，它们将使科学家能够了解来自神经元的不同蛋白质如何促成体内观察到的不同结构，以及这些结构如何实现神经元内的机械稳定性和促进运输等功能。该项目将影响生物材料的几个新兴领域，包括(1)内在无序蛋白质，该研究将导致对非结构化蛋白质在分层组装中的作用的机制理解，以及(2)非平衡生物材料，该研究有望发现由于局部能量耗散（正如在细胞中发生的那样）而产生的新蛋白质结构。该项目为学生（包括本科生和研究生）在美国国家设施的尖端结构研究技术（包括同步加速器小角度x射线散射和电子显微镜）提供了极好的教育培训机会。

Nontechnical: This award by the Biomaterials program in the Division of Materials Research to the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB) aims at discovering and understanding the structures that form inside neurons. The protein-based skeletal structures inside nerve cells are multifunctional; for example, they give mechanical stability to neurons while at the same time enabling efficient transport of molecules (e.g. neurotransmitters) from the cell body to the synapse region, which is a critical function and enables communication between neurons. The cell free studies of this project, with carefully selected neuron-derived proteins (and variations of the proteins), will lead to the identification of protein components that assemble correct or aberrant cytoskeletal structures. The studies are important since aberration in the cytoskeleton structure invariably leads to neurodegeneration. The research team members are all involved in the educational training components of the project, through Science and Engineering internship outreach programs at the UCSB. Undergraduate students from UCSB, and summer intern undergraduates from community colleges as well as national colleges and universities participate in this program. The research team's outreach activities also extend to mentoring and providing education and research experience to teachers from local high schools.Technical: This award is to develop a scientific understanding of the out-of-equilibrium phase behavior and structures in mixtures of tubulin, microtubules, and microtubule-associated-proteins derived from neurons. The functional significance of the heterogeneous dynamical microstructures observed in different neuronal compartments (i.e. axon, cell body, and dendrites) is poorly understood. Thus, the significance of the cell free studies is that they will enable scientists to develop an understanding of how different proteins derived from neurons contribute to distinct structures observed in vivo, and how these structures enable functions including mechanical stability and facilitated transport within neurons. The project will impact several nascent fields of biomaterials, including (1) intrinsically-disordered-proteins where the studies will lead to a mechanistic understanding of the role of unstructured proteins in hierarchical assembly, and (2) non-equilibrium biomaterials where the studies are expected to discover new protein structures due to the local dissipation of energy (as it happens in cells). The project offers excellent opportunities for the educational training of students (both undergraduate and graduate) in cutting-edge structural research techniques including synchrotron small-angle-x-ray-scattering and electron microscopy at US National facilities.