Project Grant R21HD112657

This Project Grant award from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), under the Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research program (CFDA 93.865), is providing $435,875.00 to the University of Texas at Austin to develop robust and accessible methods for non-invasive quantification of the mechanical properties of cell-cell junctions and the cytoplasm in vertebrate embryos. The goal is to improve the depth and breadth of understanding of embryo biomechanics by creating tools that use only standard fluorescent microscopes, making quantitative biomechanical analysis much more accessible to researchers. This work will be performed from September 2, 2023 through August 31, 2025. The University of Texas System is the parent organization of the University of Texas at Austin, which has an extensive track record of federal grant funding across diverse research areas.