LEAPS-MPS: Investigation of the Mechanism of Emergence of Collective Behavior in Motile Cilia Using Model Artificial Cilia

该奖项全部或部分根据2021年美国救援计划法案（公法117-2）资助。自然界中，由自主个体协调而产生的涌现性集体行为是一个普遍而重要的主题。集体行为从生物体水平到细胞和细胞器水平都在发生。它们在心脏起搏细胞的同步放电、昆虫的群集和鱼类的集群中被观察到。集体行为出现的一个重要例子是运动纤毛中出现有节奏的协调波。纤毛是一种毛发状的附属物，能够在从显微镜下的原核生物到哺乳动物的各种生物中泵送和运动。它们执行各种功能，例如从气道中清除污染物，在听觉或从卵巢运输卵子进行受精。 该奖项将支持北卡罗来纳州格林斯伯勒大学的艾哈迈德博士合成第一个化学动力，独立自主，自推进的人工纤毛，生产生物纤毛模型，并为进一步研究生物纤毛的运作打开大门。此外，该项目将为来自科学领域代表性不足的群体的研究生和本科生提供一个参与新的跨学科研究的机会。理论工作支持了普遍的假设，即纤毛中的协调集体波是自主个体纤毛之间的流体动力学耦合的结果。这一假设的实验支持尚未得到证明，无论是在生物系统或人工纤毛。生物纤毛不提供灵活性，改变结构参数解耦纤毛和梳理出出现的机械细节。人工纤毛提供了自定义组织的灵活性和观察集体行为出现的速度。 该奖项将支持第一个化学动力，自主人工纤毛的合成，产生生物纤毛模型，这将代表着在运动纤毛集体行为的出现，其运动效率和纤毛游泳者各种参数的结构-功能关系的理解上迈出了重要的一步。 艾哈迈德博士还将参加当地学校的K-12科学推广活动，为来自科学领域代表性不足的学生提供服务，旨在激发他们在年轻时对科学的兴趣。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并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，被认为值得支持。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). Emergent collective behaviors resulting from the coordination of autonomous individual entities is a universal and important theme in the natural world. Collective behaviors occur from the level of organisms to the level of cells and organelles. They are observed in the synchronous firing of pacemaker heart cells, the swarming of insects and the schooling of fish. A critical example of the emergence of collective behaviors is the appearance of rhythmic coordinated waves in motile cilia. Cilia are hair-like appendages that enable fluid pumping and locomotion in organisms as varied as microscopic prokaryotes to mammals. They carry out diverse functions such as the removal of contaminants from airways, in hearing or in the transport of an egg from the ovaries for fertilization. This award will support Dr. Ahmed at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro to synthesize the first chemically powered, individually autonomous, self-propelled artificial cilia, producing a model for biological cilia and open the door for further investigations related to the operation of biological cilia. In addition, the project will present an opportunity for graduate and undergraduate students from groups that are underrepresented in the sciences to partake in novel interdisciplinary research. Theoretical work has supported the prevailing hypothesis that coordinated collective waves in cilia emerge as a result of hydrodynamic coupling between autonomous individual cilia. Experimental support of this hypothesis has not yet been demonstrated either within biological systems or artificial cilia. Biological cilia do not offer the flexibility to vary structural parameters to decouple cilia and tease out the mechanistic details of emergence. Artificial cilia offer the flexibility to customize organization and speed to observe the emergence of collective behaviors. This award will support the synthesis of the first chemically powered, autonomous artificial cilia producing a model for biological cilia, which will represent a significant step forward in the understanding of the emergence of collective behaviors in motile cilia, the efficiency of their motion and the structure-function relationship of various parameters on ciliated swimmers. Dr. Ahmed will also take part in K-12 scientific outreach activities in local schools that serve students from underrepresented groups in the sciences, with the aim of kindling their interest in the sciences at a young age.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.