Research Initiation Award: Spatial organization and temporal coordination involved in secretory vesicle trafficking and exocytosis in live cells

研究启动奖为历史上黑人学院和大学的初级和中级职业教师提供支持，他们正在建立新的研究项目或重新定向和重建现有项目。预计该奖项将有助于进一步提高教师的研究能力和效率，改善家庭机构的研究和教学，并使本科生参与研究经验。授予霍华德大学的奖项旨在揭示时空信息如何被细胞整合和使用，以影响促进物质从细胞中排出的信号通路（胞吐作用），并使研究人员能够更好地了解胞吐作用如何使细胞与其他细胞，组织和细胞外空间交流。 胞吐作用是在真核生物和其他细胞类型中普遍存在的基本细胞行为。本研究的目的是提供一个更好的了解如何蛋白质，脂质和肌动蛋白细胞骨架网络作为组织的“元素”调节胞吐作用。 荧光显微镜将被用来建立一个空间和时间的要求，管理组织细胞膜和影响生物过程，如调节胞吐作用的生物物理原理的理解。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

Research Initiation Awards provide support for junior and mid-career faculty at Historically Black Colleges and Universities who are building new research programs or redirecting and rebuilding existing programs. It is expected that the award helps to further the faculty member's research capability and effectiveness, improves research and teaching at the home institution, and involves undergraduate students in research experiences. The award to Howard University aims to reveal how spatiotemporal information is integrated and used by cells to affect signaling pathways promoting expulsion of substances from cells (exocytosis) and will enable researchers to better understand how exocytosis allows cells to communicate with other cells, tissues, and the extracellular space. Exocytosis is a fundamental cellular behavior that is ubiquitous across eukaryotes and other cell types. The goal of this study is to provide a better understanding of how proteins, lipids, and the actin cytoskeleton network act as organizing "elements" regulating exocytosis. Fluorescence microscopy will be utilized to establish an understanding of the spatial and temporal requirements governing the biophysical principles that organize cell membranes and influence biological processes like regulated exocytosis.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.