RUI: Mechanoregulation of Collective Cell Migration in Biomimetic Microenvironments

This Facilitating Research at Primarily Undergraduate Institutions (RUI) project supports fundamental research to study collective cell migration, a crucial process in embryonic development, wound healing, tissue regeneration, and cancer metastasis. The interplay between mechanical force and biochemical factors during this migration is not well understood.

This project will study the correlation between mechanical force and biochemical factors in engineered biomimetic microenvironments. The results from this research will enhance our understanding of cell migration, a key biological process. The methods developed will assist in designing molecular biosensors and three-dimensional cell cultures for disease modeling and biomedical research.

This research will contribute to the advancement of fundamental science and biomedical research. Educational activities include the development of course curricula, summer research opportunities, and K-12 outreach activities. To widen the project's participation, high school and undergraduate students will be recruited to participate in this project by offering them hands-on training and mentoring programs. Special emphasis will be placed on women and underrepresented minority (URM) groups.

The objective of this project is to investigate the correlation between mechanical force and biochemical factors during collective cell migration using a micro-engineered platform, including novel multiplex nanobiosensing techniques and engineered 3D biomimetic microenvironment. The overarching goal is to elucidate how compressive stress and matrix stiffness interact with non-coding RNAs (or ncRNAs) during collective cell migration.

This research will achieve three objectives: developing a novel multiplex nanobiosensor for detecting non-coding RNAs at a single-cell level, elucidating the mechanosensitive role of ncRNAs and their interaction with biophysical factors, and investigating how these ncRNAs regulate collective cell migration in 3D biomimetic microenvironments. Completion of this project will advance the understanding of fundamental mechanisms by which ncRNAs respond to biophysical factors.

The knowledge gained from this project will provide novel information and new insights of the fundamental principles of mechano-regulation in collective cell migration and establish an important foundation for advancing our understanding of the emerging role of ncRNAs.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.