RII Track-1: ND-ACES: New Discoveries in the Advanced Interface of Computation, Engineering, and Science

为了使北达科他州的经济在农业和能源之外实现多样化，ND-ACES将产生新的知识，并提高生物科学领域的司法竞争力，特别是与癌症治疗相关的领域。 一个关键的焦点是提高对生物组织和生物材料之间的接触区域或生物界面的理解。 支架生物材料的设计将刺激新组织在生物界面的生长。 ND-ACES将通过多个科学和工程领域的合作来优化生物界面的设计，包括材料科学，细胞生物学和生物化学，医学和计算建模。计算工具将允许对3D癌性肿瘤环境和由此产生的细胞反应进行建模。 这些研究将解决迫切需要增加对肿瘤生长，转移和治疗反应背景下细胞和表面之间相互作用的理解。 ND-ACES将加强研究资源，并在北达科他州发展计算技能的劳动力。 在这个项目的五年期间，来自北达科他州十个学术机构的研究人员和学生组成的多元化小组，包括四个部落学院，三个主要的本科院校和一个硕士大学，将参与研究和教育活动。该项目将与行业和其他利益相关者建立伙伴关系，并准备一支训练有素的劳动力队伍，能够满足北达科他州及其他地区生物科学的需求。北达科他州EPSCoR研究基础设施改进轨道1项目（ND-ACES）将使用计算建模来发展对生物和工程材料生物界面的跨学科理解;扩大新的细胞生长和分析范例的专业知识，以模拟癌性肿瘤的体内环境;促进研究/计算能力;通过产品，伙伴关系和与各利益相关者的合作，支持研究转化为使用;通知北达科他州的市民 ND-ACES建立研究能力，以更好地理解控制体外生物界面的设计规则，并影响围绕生物化学和癌细胞和肿瘤的细胞生物学理解的体内决策。 计算创建的设计规则可以增强细胞对材料表面特性的反应的可预测性，并提供基本信息来解决许多生物科学挑战。因此，计算建模作为一个突出的研究工具的集成允许更广泛的测试比试错法。 ND-ACES努力将所有十个参与机构的教师和学生纳入合作研究，早期职业发展，教育增强和推广，以提高早期职业教师的能力，提高先进的科学计算能力，该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过评估被认为值得支持使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。

In order to diversify North Dakota’s economy beyond agriculture and energy, ND-ACES will generate new knowledge and increase jurisdictional competitiveness in bioscience areas, particularly those related to cancer therapies. A key focus is the improved understanding of the region of contact, or biointerface, between a biological tissue and a biomaterial. Scaffold biomaterials will be designed that stimulate the growth of new tissue at the biointerface. ND-ACES will optimize the design of biointerfaces through a collaboration among multiple fields of sciences and engineering, including materials science, cell biology and biochemistry, medicine, and computational modeling. Computational tools will allow the modeling of the 3D cancerous tumor environment and resulting cellular responses. These studies will address the urgent need to increase the understanding of interactions between cells and surfaces in the context of tumor growth, metastasis, and response to therapies. ND-ACES will enhance research resources and develop the computationally skilled workforce in North Dakota. During the five years of this project, a diverse group of researchers and students from ten academic institutions in North Dakota, including four tribal colleges, three primarily undergraduate institutions, and one master’s university, will participate in the research and educational activities. This project will forge partnerships with industries and other stakeholders and prepare a well-trained workforce capable of meeting the needs of bioscience in North Dakota and beyond.The North Dakota EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement Track-1 project, ND-ACES, will use computational modeling to develop improved interdisciplinary understanding of biological and engineered materials biointerfaces; expand expertise in novel cellular growth and analysis paradigms for mimicking the in vivo environment of cancerous tumors; catalyze research/computing capabilities; support the translation of research into use through products, partnerships, and collaborations with various stakeholders; and inform North Dakota's citizens. ND-ACES builds research capacity to better understand design rules that govern in vitro biointerfaces and influence in vivo decisions surrounding the understanding of biochemistry and the cell biology of cancer cells and tumors. Computationally created design rules can enhance predictability of cellular responses to material surface characteristics and provide fundamental information to address many bioscience challenges. Thus, the integration of computational modeling as a prominent research tool allows for more extensive testing than possible with trial-and-error methods. ND-ACES efforts incorporate both faculty and students at all ten participating institutions in collaborative research, early career development, education enhancement, and outreach to increase the abilities of early career faculty, increase advanced scientific computing capabilities, and broaden the participation and number of STEM undergraduate and graduate students.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.