Project Grant N629092512083

This Project Grant award from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), under the Biomedical Research and Research Training program (CFDA 93.859), provides $541,967 to the University of Chicago to investigate the mechanical behaviors of cells and their impact on physiological processes and diseases. The research aims to expand the understanding of adherent cell mechanics and mechanobiology, focusing on the force-sensitive remodeling of cell-cell adhesions and the role of LIM...

This $440,000 Project Grant award from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) Biomedical Research and Research Training program (CFDA 93.859) supports a comprehensive research program to decipher the principles and mechanisms of mechanosignaling at the sub-molecular level. The principal investigator will utilize the in-house developed Multi-Fluorescence Biomembrane Force Probe (MF-BFP) technology, combined with molecular/cellular engineering, super-resolution imaging,...

This three-year, $1,031,012 National Science Foundation project grant supports research at the University of Chicago to develop active adaptive materials inspired by cell mechanics. The goal is to elucidate design principles for soft biomolecular materials whose actuation and shape are reprogrammable, similar to how actin cytoskeleton networks control cell shape and locomotion. Researchers will reconstitute cytoskeleton-like composite networks in vitro and optimize molecular engineering...

This Project Grant award of $400,000 from the National Science Foundation's Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) supports a collaborative research effort to study the mechanics of tissue boundary formation during early stages of development. The research aims to explain how mechanical forces inside the body help shape developing tissues and organs. By combining expertise from biology and engineering, the project will advance scientific understanding of tissue formation and potentially lead to new...

This Project Grant award from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) Biomedical Research and Research Training program (CFDA 93.859) provides $372,100 to the University of Wisconsin - Madison to develop novel "mechanoimaging" technologies that can measure and program piconewton-scale mechanical forces exerted by individual cell receptors in viscoelastic biomaterials. The goal is to quantify how cells, including fibroblasts, cancer cells, and T cells, physically...

The National Science Foundation Division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation awarded a $599,999 Project Grant to the University of California, San Diego to support research titled "BRITE PIVOT: MOLECULAR BASIS OF MECHANOTRANSDUCTION PROBED USING SOFT MATERIALS SCIENCE." The award period is from January 1, 2022 through December 31, 2024. The grant will fund research into the molecular basis of mechanotransduction using soft materials science approaches. Specifically,...

This $635,000 Project Grant awarded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation supports research to understand how mechanical boundary conditions influence tissue assembly and repair in 3D fibrous microtissues. The research aims to advance knowledge about the mechanisms by which mechanical forces regulate new tissue formation and organization, particularly as it relates to wound healing. The project will integrate in vitro experiments and...

This Project Grant award from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), under the Biomedical Research and Research Training program (CFDA 93.859), provides $365,077 to the University of Arkansas to investigate the mechanobiology of multicellular morphogenesis. The key objectives are to: 1) measure the distribution of intercellular mechanical forces during morphogenetic processes such as branch elongation/retraction, bifurcation/budding, and buckling, and connect these dynamic...

This federal Project Grant award of $399,198 from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) Biomedical Research and Research Training program (CFDA 93.859) supports research on the "Dynamics of Cell-Matrix Mechanical Communication During Morphogenesis" at the University of Rochester. The project aims to investigate how mechanical signals from the extracellular matrix modulate cellular mechanisms of remodeling and adhesion to drive tissue-level deformations during...

This $526,451 Project Grant award from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) Biomedical Research and Research Training program (CFDA 93.859) is funding the development of a novel optical microscopy modality for cell biomechanics research. The project aims to create a high-throughput, non-contact, and non-perturbative pulsed stimulated Brillouin microscopy system to study the mechanical properties of cells. Key anticipated products include a 100-fold improvement in data...