Project Grant 2201235

The National Science Foundation awarded a three-year, $533,158 Project Grant to the University of Chicago under the Biological Sciences federal grant program (CFDA 47.074). The grant will fund research to systematically characterize the self-organization and force generation of actin networks and contractile rings within synthetic lipid vesicles. Researchers will reconstitute cytoskeletal protein networks from purified components within giant unilamellar vesicles to define the essential elements for self-organization. They will determine network and ring formation for mixtures of actin, actin-binding proteins, and motor proteins both with and without specific membrane interactions. Patterned motor protein activation will drive membrane-associated network and ring contraction to investigate resulting forces. In addition to advancing understanding of cytoskeletal self-organization mechanisms, this research aims to provide insight into cellular processes like cell division.