The PI's long-term career goal is to understand how presentation of adhesive glycan epitopes by cells impacts the biomechanics of adhesion in fluid flow in order to develop approaches that can elicit precise patterns of cell homing to target tissues for applications in enhancing wound healing or treating inflammation and metastasis. In pursuit of this goal, the research objective of this BRIGE award is to establish how the context of cell surface presentation of binding epitopes, in particular density versus multivalency, controls cell adhesion in physiological flow conditions. The research approach is to systematically evaluate the effects of cell surface epitope and ligand density on the biomechanics of cell adhesion, to determine how epitope density versus receptor-ligand biophysics contribute to this process, and to elucidate the glycan biosynthetic and gene expression pathways involved in eliciting a range of cell adhesion behaviors.
Broader Significance and Importance:
The results of this proposal will provide design criteria for the development of strategies to selectively attenuate or enhance cell adhesion for therapeutic purposes ranging from regenerative medicine, management of inflammation and prevention of cancer metastasis. Many people whom suffer from a variety of disease conditions would therefore benefit from the novel insight into the regulation of cell adhesion governing tissue-specific cell engraftment that will be gained from this proposal.
Broadening Participation:
The educational objective of this BRIGE proposal is to develop online modules for elementary, middle and high school science teachers to improve compliance with science and mathematics learning standards as a part of the state of Georgia's participation in the Race to the Top program. The PI' laboratory will also host a science teacher from a metro Atlanta school, serving a largely low-income underrepresented minority student population, through the Georgia Intern Fellowships for Teachers program. The PI will also continue her efforts in expanding the Georgia Tech Ambassador Program administered by Women in Engineering to promote education and career opportunities in STEM with young students in the metro Atlanta area. The educational objectives of this proposal will impact large numbers of students at a variety of different education levels throughout the state of Georgia. The goal of these interactions is to increase the number of students, especially minority and women students, interested in STEM higher education and careers.
This research has been funded through the Broadening Participation Research Initiation Grants in Engineering solicitation, which is part of the Broadening Participation in Engineering Program of the Engineering Education and Centers Division.
