November 3, 2009
News View Article
From Solar Power to Proteins, New Generation of Pitt Faculty Receives Awards to Explore Future Technologies and Health CareNational Science Foundation CAREER Awards support emerging research in artificial tissue construction, sustainable energy, advanced electronics, and the role of the body's smallest components in causing and preventing diseases
PITTSBURGH-Six University of Pittsburgh faculty members have received more than
$3.73
million to advance the futures of energy, health, and technology as
part of Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) awards they received
this year from the National Science Foundation. The five-year awards
fund junior faculty members' emerging careers and include an education
component that encourages outreach to women and underrepresented groups.
Four
recipients are researchers in Pitt's School of Arts and Sciences:
Lillian Chong, an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry;
Gurudev Dutt, an assistant professor in the Department of Physics and
Astronomy; Michael Grabe, an assistant professor in the Department of
Biological Sciences; and Megan Spence, an assistant professor in the
Department of Chemistry. In Pitt's Swanson School of Engineering, Lance
Davidson, an assistant professor in the Department of Bioengineering,
and Jung-Kun Lee, an assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering and
Materials Science, also received awards. Funds for Grabe, Dutt, and
Lee's projects come from the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act.
Pitt is among 41 schools to receive six or more of the 694
CAREER awards granted in the 2008-09 award cycle that ended Sept. 30.
Among other schools receiving six awards are Duke University,
Pennsylvania State University, the University of Arizona, and the
University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
A description of each Pitt recipient's research and the educational component are below.
In
her research, Lillian Chong seeks to better understand how molecular
malfunctions correspond to various diseases by investigating, via
computer simulations, the way that proteins fold, bind to their
partners, and catalyze reactions. Her more than $698,000 CAREER project
could lead to improved therapeutic and molecular sensors that work by
binding biological molecules-such as when gauging glucose levels in
diabetic patients-or environmental molecules, such as pollutant
detectors. Chong will explore the unusual behavior of natively unfolded
proteins, or proteins that lack a well-defined structure. These
proteins only fold when binding with partner proteins, an action that
challenges the consensus that proteins bind more quickly when
prefolded. Chong will compare the speed with which unfolded proteins
bind to that of proteins that fold prior to binding. Moreover, since
this experiment cannot be conducted in a laboratory, Chong could help
expand the potential of simulated research by illustrating rare
instances of protein binding and allowing the study of realistic
binding rates without forcing the events to occur. For the educational
component, Chong will continue her work of helping students become more
effective and engaging researchers and instructors by designing a
graduate course in scientific presentations. She currently has her
undergraduate students create 5-minute videos and podcasts that explain
the latest in scientific research, an idea she hopes to extend to other
universities and organize as a national conference.
Lance
Davidson will delve into a $500,000 project to understand how embryos
use molecular-, cell-, and tissue-scale processes to shape tissues and
organs, then use his results to aid in the construction of artificial
tissues. Davidson will examine how genes dictate the mechanics of
mesenchymal stem cells, which are instrumental in the development of
muscles, connective tissue, bone and cartilage, and the lymphatic and
circulatory systems. Coordinated, loosely packed groups of mesenchymal
cells migrate, rearrange, and change shape to construct the body, but
there is little explanation as to how the hundreds of thousands of
participating genes and cells work together to drive body movement.
Davidson seeks to decipher the cellular mechanics responsible for rapid
phases of tissue sculpting, assess how cell behavior changes in various
environments, and reveal the mechanical coordination of mesenchymal
tissue growth and development. The interdisciplinary training for
biologists and tissue engineers working on the project will help devise
a framework important for both fields.
Gurudev Dutt studies
quantum systems, atom-sized applications that show significant
potential in next-generation technologies, particularly transistors as
well as information processing and storage devices far superior to
current computers. With his $550,000 grant, Dutt will explore how to
control the quantum coherence (the phase of electron waves) and quantum
entanglement (linking of atoms for combined power) of these highly
advanced systems. Coherence and entanglement would allow the atoms in
quantum systems to function cooperatively, increasing an electronic
device's power and speed. Dutt will use diamond-based materials and
nanostructures to test how coherence and entanglement behave in a
solid-state environment similar to that of an electronic device.
Graduate and undergraduate students working on the project will learn
advanced experimental techniques widely used in modern physics
laboratories to study quantum properties. Dutt and his group also will
develop computer simulations and learning games that explain important
physics topics and current research, which will be made available to
the general public to motivate aspiring scientists.
Michael
Grabe received a $932,252 grant to explore the correlation between cell
function and the proteins contained in the cell membrane. Membrane
proteins dictate a cell's ability to sense and respond to its
environment, as well as regulate essential cell activity, such as the
flow of molecules in and out of a cell. An unstable membrane protein
may function incorrectly, be targeted for removal from the membrane, or
accumulate in the wrong place in the cell. Improperly functioning
proteins are linked to a number of nervous system and heart disorders
and misplaced or absent proteins can result in cystic fibrosis and
related conditions. Grabe seeks to better understand the basic physics
and chemistry of how these proteins meld with the membrane and the
roots of protein malfunction. He and his group will create realistic
computer models that simulate the insertion of these proteins into the
membrane and their removal. Grabe plans to make the software associated
with his work freely available. For the educational component, Grabe
will develop a mathematical biology course (and textbook) that trains
undergraduate students in the mathematics needed to understand
cutting-edge technologies in biology. He has also been developing a
summer course in basic mathematics for high school students in
Pittsburgh's School-to-Career Teen Program.
Jung-Kun Lee intends
to produce advanced versions of the technology used in solar panels and
flat-panel displays, aiming for more efficient solar-power cells and
optoelectronic devices. His $400,000 project will focus on the next
generation of transparent conducting oxides (TCOs)-the essential
technology in solar panels and flat panel displays-that would allow for
increased control and energy harvesting of light. Lee will look at
molding metallic nanoparticles into novel nanocomposites-materials with
multiple nanoscale dimensions that would increase the concentration of
electron carriers without sacrificing their mobility. This will lead to
more efficient transport of electricity. Lee plans to translate his lab
work into Pitt's existing renewable energy and nanotechnology
curriculums by developing a course that focuses on the correlation
between solar energy and nanomaterials. In addition, he hopes to
produce a prototype solar cell for outreach to Pittsburgh-area high
school students with an emphasis on underrepresented groups.
Megan
Spence will undertake a $650,000 effort to help expand the study of
lipid rafts and related illnesses that affect the brain and nervous
system. Lipid rafts are cholesterol-rich “islands” in cell membranes
that sort and organize the membrane proteins involved in cell-to-cell
and protein-to-protein communication. These rafts are thought to play
an essential role in the way viruses and bacteria enter cells as well
as in such illnesses as Alzheimer's disease. Spence will investigate
the role of membrane proteins in altering the size of lipid rafts. As
lipid rafts are too small to view with an optical microscope, she will
develop a novel microscope combining solid-state nuclear magnetic
resonance spectroscopy with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), allowing
for rafts as small as 200 nanometers to be measured. This technique
could help advance the understanding of how lipid rafts sort proteins
and how a cell creates and destroys lipid rafts over its lifetime.
Spence also plans to develop a one-credit undergraduate class focusing
on research skills and laboratory culture that will be offered to
sophomore science majors, to prepare them to carry out scientific
research as undergraduates.
