{"53825":{"#nid":"53825","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech is a Partner in a New $25-million NSF Center","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWhile the behaviors of individual cells and the functions and properties of tissues and organs have been extensively studied, the complex interactions of cell clusters have not been examined in great detail. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe new $25-million Emergent Behaviors of Integrated Cellular Systems (EBICS) Center to be operated by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the Georgia Institute of Technology intends to change that.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe EBICS Center -- established by the National Science Foundation (NSF) as part of its Science and Technology Centers Integrative Partnerships program -- aims to advance research in complex biological systems, create new educational programs based on this research, and demonstrate leadership in its involvement of groups traditionally underrepresented in science and engineering. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cUltimately, we envision being able to create biological modules -- sensors, processors, actuators -- that can be combined in various ways to produce different capabilities,\u201d said Roger Kamm, Germeshausen Professor of Mechanical and Biological Engineering at MIT, and the Center\u2019s founding director. \u201cIf we are successful, this will open up an entirely new field of research with wide-ranging implications, from regenerative medicine to developmental biology.\u201d\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech will receive more than $1.6 million per year to support the research and educational efforts in the EBICS Center. Georgia Tech\u2019s participation in the Center will be administered through the Georgia Tech\/Emory Center (GTEC) for Regenerative Medicine. Robert Nerem, who is an associate director of EBICS and the director of GTEC, will work closely with Kamm and the other associate directors to achieve the Center\u2019s educational and research goals, and oversee its diversity objectives.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech faculty will contribute to the development of the knowledge, tools and technologies necessary to create these highly sophisticated biological machines.  \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cCritical to the successful design of engineered cellular systems is a fundamental understanding of interactions between cells and their environment, their control by biochemical and mechanical cues, and the coordinated behavior of functional biological machines,\u201d said Gang Bao, the Robert A. Milton Chair in Biomedical Engineering in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\nBao will coordinate the Center\u2019s four research areas, which include:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EInvestigating how individual cells integrate the various biological, biochemical and physical cues from their environments to determine their ultimate states and biological behaviors.\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EDetermining the emergent behaviors and interactions of cell clusters, including the transition from single cell to multi-cell behavior, the nature of communication between cells, and how this leads to functional coordination among neighboring cells and cell populations.\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003ECreating and characterizing simple cellular machines that perform increasingly complex tasks, such as sensing, information processing, protein expression and transport.\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EDeveloping enabling technologies to ensure the goals of the other three areas can be met.\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAlso contributing to the Center\u2019s research efforts are Georgia Tech researchers Yuhong Fan, an assistant professor in the School of Biology; Andr\u00e9s Garc\u00eda, a professor in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering; and Melissa Kemp, Todd McDevitt and Manu Platt, all assistant professors in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University. Young-sup Yoon, an associate professor of cardiology at the Emory University School of Medicine; and Steve Stice, professor and director of the Regenerative Bioscience Center at the University of Georgia and a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar, will participate in the EBICS Center as members of GTEC. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe EBICS Center will also engage faculty from minority-serving institutions on research projects, and work closely with existing outreach and recruitment programs at all partner institutions to ensure the broadest range of participation in all of its programs. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cFor the U.S. to be competitive globally in the 21st century it must leverage the inherent strength of its diverse population,\u201d said Nerem, the Parker H. Petit Distinguished Chair for Engineering in Medicine and Institute Professor at Georgia Tech. \u201cThe more diverse a science and engineering team is, the more likely will the advances in the technology created be truly innovative.\u201d\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Center also contains an educational component consisting of a two-track, integrated graduate program for engineers to learn biological science, and for biologists to learn engineering methods across an eight-school consortium, which includes Georgia Tech. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cEBICS offers the opportunity to create a truly innovative, transformative approach to interdisciplinary graduate and undergraduate education,\u201d said the Center\u2019s education coordinator K. Jimmy Hsia, professor of mechanical science and engineering and associate dean of graduate college at Illinois.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EEBICS researchers will also work closely with members of the Global Enterprise for MicroMechanics and Molecular Medicine (GEM4) to expand upon the international collaborations and educational activities fostered by GEM4 in cell and molecular biomechanics and their implications for human diseases and molecular medicine, and from the specialized summer GEM4 training programs organized at different institutions under a separate grant from NSF.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe EBICS Center is one of five new NSF Science and Technology Center (STC) awards.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThese five new STCs will involve world class teams of researchers and educators, integrate learning and discovery in innovative ways, tackle complex problems that require the long-term support afforded by this program, and lead to the development of new technologies with significant impact well into the future,\u201d said NSF Director Arden L. Bement.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EResearch News \u0026amp; Publications Office\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n75 Fifth Street, N.W., Suite 314\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAtlanta, Georgia  30308  USA\n\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\n\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMedia Relations Contacts:\u003C\/strong\u003E Abby Vogel (404-385-3364; \u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:avogel@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Eavogel@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E) or John Toon (404-894-6986; \u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jtoon@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ejtoon@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E)\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWriter:\u003C\/strong\u003E Abby Vogel\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"EBICS Center will investigate the creation of biological machines"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"Georgia Tech is partnering with MIT and the University of Illinois to form the Emergent Behaviors of Integrated Cellular Systems (EBICS) Center. The new $25-million NSF Center aims to advance research in complex biological systems.","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"$25M NSF Center established to create biological machines"}],"uid":"27206","created_gmt":"2010-02-22 01:00:00","changed_gmt":"2022-05-26 17:09:36","author":"Abby Vogel Robinson","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2010-02-23T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2010-02-23T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"53826":{"id":"53826","type":"image","title":"Robert Nerem","body":null,"created":"1449175342","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:42:22","changed":"1475894403","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:40:03"},"53827":{"id":"53827","type":"image","title":"Gang Bao","body":null,"created":"1449175342","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:42:22","changed":"1475894403","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:40:03"}},"media_ids":["53826","53827"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.bme.gatech.edu\/facultystaff\/faculty_record.php?id=2","title":"Gang Bao"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.ibb.gatech.edu\/","title":"Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.me.gatech.edu\/faculty\/nerem.shtml","title":"Robert Nerem"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.gtec.gatech.edu\/","title":"Georgia Tech\/Emory Center (GTEC) for Regenerative Medicine"}],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"8774","name":"biological machines"},{"id":"277","name":"Biology"},{"id":"8775","name":"cell behavior"},{"id":"3198","name":"cells"},{"id":"8773","name":"cellular systems"},{"id":"4648","name":"Cues"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAbby Vogel - Research News and Publications\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["avogel@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}