CAREER: Collective hydrodynamics within viscous interfaces: activity and assembly in membranes and monolayers

嵌入在两种流体界面中的微观颗粒的协同运动是许多生物和工程过程的核心。这些动力学控制着细胞膜中的蛋白质或肺部衬里上的呼吸颗粒物的运动，并影响模拟自然细胞的合成药物输送载体的设计。该奖项将支持开发新的模型和模拟，以量化和设计这些复杂的膜状组件。这个项目将描述真实形状的粒子的活动和动力学，开发准确的模拟来有效地表征大规模聚集，并揭示设计粒子之间相互作用的新策略。在一个紧密结合的教育计划中，该项目将制定一个队列计划，通过为期一年的指导和培训，专门针对来自当地社区大学的未被充分代表的转学学生的职业成功和STEM参与。作为该计划的一部分，研究人员和受训人员将为教师和学生开发和传播开源、互动的教学模块，旨在促进广泛参与编码和工程方法，并激励未来更具竞争力的STEM劳动力。该奖项的主要目标是在广泛的生物和仿生应用中，牢固确立大规模流体动力相互作用在粘性界面内颗粒组织上的作用。虽然孤立的被动粒子在牛顿界面中的传输已经得到了很好的证实，但仍然缺乏一个严格的平台来捕捉代表许多应用的复杂拥挤的单分子层或膜中真实粒子形状的大规模流体动力学相互作用。由于非牛顿表面流变学，分子马达和人工自推进界面胶体的活性性质，以及膜锚和合成纳米棒的延伸或变形结构，真实系统尤其具有挑战性。这个项目将使用渐近理论来系统地评估广泛的现实非牛顿界面中的对相互作用，开发有效的计算方法来捕捉大尺度的表面流体动力学，将这些见解和工具扩展到复杂的粒子形状和系统几何，并开发介观平均场模型来探索大尺度的结构、稳定性和模式。综上所述，该项目开发的分析和数值工具将广泛应用于双层、单层、生物膜和聚合物膜上新型自组装材料的理性和创造性设计，超越传统界面工程的长度尺度和限制。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The cooperative movement of microscopic particles embedded in the interface between two fluids is central to many biological and engineering processes. These dynamics govern the motion of proteins in cell membranes or respiratory particulate matter on lung linings and in-fluence the design of synthetic drug delivery vehicles that mimic natural cells. This award will support the development of new models and simulations to quantify and engineer these complex membrane-like assemblies. This project will describe the activity and dynamics of particles of realistic shapes, develop accurate simulations to efficiently characterize large-scale aggregates, and reveal novel strategies to engineer interactions between particles. In a tightly integrated education plan, this project will develop a cohort program specifically targeting the professional success and STEM participation of underrepresented transfer students from local community colleges via year-long mentorship and training. As part of this program, researchers and trainees will develop and disseminate open-source, interactive, instruction modules for teachers and students, aimed at promoting broad engagement with coding and engineering methods and inspiring a more competitive future STEM workforce. The main goal of this award is to firmly establish the role of large-scale hydrodynamic interactions on particle organization within viscous interfaces in a broad class of biological and biomimetic applications. While the transport of isolated, passive particles in Newtonian interfaces is well established, a rigorous platform to capture large-scale hydrodynamic interactions of realistic particle shapes in complex crowded monolayers or membranes that represent many applications is still lacking. Real systems are particularly challenging due to non-Newtonian surface rheology, the active nature of molecular motors and artificial self-propelled interfacial colloids, and the extended or deformable structure of membrane anchors and synthetic nano-rods. This project will use asymptotic theory to systematically evaluate pair interactions in a wide range of realistic non-Newtonian interfaces, develop efficient computational methods to capture large-scale surface hydrodynamics, extend these insights and tools to complex particle shape and system geometries, and develop mesoscopic mean-field models to explore large-scale structure, stability, and patterns. Put together, the analytical and numerical tools developed in this project will be broadly applicable in the rational and creative design of novel self-assembled materials on bilayers, monolayers, biofilms, and polymer membranes, going beyond the length scales and limitations of traditional interfacial engineering.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.