The National Science Foundation (NSF) Biological Sciences program (CFDA 47.074) awarded a $1,200,000 Project Grant to Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (Tees) to study the optimization of morphogen signal transduction pathways across different animal species. The goal is to understand how common biological signaling pathways, such as the Bone Morphogenetic Protein (BMP) pathway, can be widely used yet flexible to meet the diverse needs of various tissues and organisms.
The research teams from Tees, University of Notre Dame, and Purdue University will use advanced microscopy techniques to measure BMP pathway protein concentrations and quantify performance objectives like response speed, noise filtering, and linear sensitivity across Drosophila, zebrafish, and human induced pluripotent stem cell models. This work is expected to result in a cross-species mathematical model that predicts how altering protein concentrations can shift the pathway's emphasis on different performance objectives. The project includes an undergraduate exchange program between the participating universities to promote education and training in engineering principles for biological signaling dynamics.
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