2018 GRC Signal Transduction by Engineered Extracellular Matrices

该奖项为参加2018年7月21日至27日在马里兰州安多弗举行的“工程细胞外基质信号转导”2018年戈登研究会议的学生和年轻研究人员提供旅费和会议注册费支持。这次会议将允许年轻的研究人员与成熟的研究人员建立联系，讨论关于细胞如何对环境作出反应以及如何开发材料来指导这种反应的前沿研究。这项研究的首要目标是开发疾病模型，重点是癌症，并支持免疫调节治疗工程材料的设计。本次戈登会议将汇集生物医学工程、材料科学、合成生物学、遗传学和临床医学领域的研究人员，讨论细胞信号转导领域的前沿研究以及驱动和控制细胞反应的材料的发展。这是一个跨学科的会议，旨在建立不同领域之间的桥梁，以推进该领域的科学和工程——这是组织工程和细胞治疗的许多领域的关键。特别是，会议将重点关注工程材料用于创建疾病模型（特别强调癌症）的基本理解，合成支架在指导体外组织和类器官形态发生中的应用，以及用于免疫调节治疗的工程材料的设计。这次小型会议将包括广泛的研究人员，从研究生和博士后学员到该领域的世界领袖，传播最新进展并建立联系，以推动这一关键研究领域向前发展。奖金将用于支持学生和学员，使他们能够展示他们的研究，并发展必要的研究网络，以促进科学和他们的职业生涯。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award provides support for the travel and conference registration fees of students and young investigators as participants in the 2018 Gordon Research Conference Signal Transduction by Engineered Extracellular Matrices, in Andover, Maryland, from July 21-27, 2018. The meeting will allow young investigators to network with establish researchers to discuss cutting edge research about how cells respond to their environment and how materials can be developed to direct this response. The overarching goal of this research is to develop models of disease, with a focus on cancer, and support the design of engineered materials for immunomodulation therapy.This Gordon Conference will bring together researchers in biomedical engineering, materials science, synthetic biology, genetics, and clinical medicine to discuss the cutting edge of research in the area of cellular signal transduction and the development of materials to drive and govern cellular response. This is a cross-disciplinary conference, designed to build bridges between fields to advance science and engineering in this area -- which is key to many areas of tissue engineering and cellular therapeutics. In particular, the conference will focus on fundamental understanding of the use of engineered materials to create disease models (with a special emphasis on cancer), the application of synthetic scaffolds to guide the morphogenesis of ex vivo tissues and organoids, and the design of engineered materials for use in immunomodulation therapies. The small conference will include a broad range of researchers, from graduate students and post-doctoral trainees to world leaders in this area, to disseminate the latest advances and develop connections to advance this key field of research moving forward. Award funds will be used to support students and trainees so that they can present their research and develop the research network necessary to advance both science and their careers.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.