Diversity Research Supplement for Combining Experiments and Computer Simulation to Improve the Stem Cell Differentiation Process

摘要 这项工作的总体目标是确定微尺寸和纳米尺寸粒子的运动特性， 在细胞内的运动，它有直接的应用研究细胞内的内容物在干细胞 在父母补助金中提出的差异。需要明确评估ENUID属性，因为它具有 这对计算机模拟干细胞分化的准确性影响很大。一种光镊装置， 将被用来观察微米级和纳米级珠子接近镊子焦点时的运动 点来确定它们的运动是过阻尼、欠阻尼还是临界阻尼。这是一个令人印象深刻的维斯。 密度也将变化以复制细胞质和核质的密度。这个想法是为了描述 在过阻尼和欠阻尼运动之间，以及这种转变发生的条件，如果它发生的话。 这个评估是重要的，因为建议的细胞模型包括大小高于和低于的对象 在哪里应该发生转变。这项研究的结果，沿着父母补助金中提出的结果， 应该有助于开发一种准确的干细胞分化的高速模型， 填补目前对细胞机械生物学理解的空白，并促进其他细胞生物学的未来研究。 机械生物学过程，如伤口愈合。这项研究还应该导致一个联合的实验 和理论上的光镊工具来探索细胞的机械生物学。

ABSTRACT The overall goal of this work is to determine the characteristics of the motion of micro-sized and nano-sized par- ticles in a fluid, which has direct application to the study of the motion of intracellular contents during stem cell differentiation proposed in the parent grant. A clear assessment of the fluid properties is needed because it has a great impact on the accuracy of the computer simulation of stem cell differentiation. An optical tweezer apparatus will be used to observe the motion of micron-sized and nano-sized beads as they approach the tweezer's focal point to determine whether their motion is overdamped, underdamped or even critically damped. The fluid vis- cosity will also be varied to replicate that of cytoplasm and nucleoplasm. The idea is to characterize the transition between overdamped and underdamped motion and the conditions under which this transition occurs, if it occurs. This assessment is important because the proposed model of the cell includes objects of a size above and below that where the transition should occur. The result of this study, along with those proposed in the parent grant, should facilitate the development of an accurate high-speed model of stem cell differentiation that can assist in filling gaps in the current understanding of cellular mechanobiology, and facilitate future studies of other cellular mechanobiological processes such as wound healing. This study should also result in a combined experimental and theoretical optical tweezer tool for exploring the mechanobiology of cells.