Summary/Abstract
The goal of this application is to support travel awards for students, postdoctoral fellows, and early-stage
investigators (ESI) to attend the 2024-26 Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) Cellular and Molecular
Bioengineering (CMBE) Conferences. Broadly the goal of CMBE Conference is to catalyze 1) the development
of new molecular, cellular, bioimaging, synthetic biology, and single-cell technologies for probing and
manipulating cellular dynamics and function, 2) the application and transition of these cutting edge approaches
for understanding the organizing principles of complex cellular and tissue systems across scales, and 3) the
translation of these advancements in ways that ultimately benefit humanity, such as actionable models of
biological processes, drug screening systems, and cellular biosensors to sense and respond to environment
cues. The theme of the 2024 BMES CMBE Conference is “Systems Bioengineering: From Molecules to Cells
to Tissues”. With the 2024 conference, we aim to focus on an integrated viewpoint of complex biological
systems using “Systems Bioengineering” as a framework. Speakers will describe their engineering approaches
to deconvolve the complex molecular, cellular, and tissue systems within the human body through quantitative
and modeling approaches. We have recruited several established and emerging research leaders in key
defining research areas with strong focus on understanding cell states in development and diseases, with
particular focus on Immune Systems, and their applications in cellular and molecular bioengineering. The
outcome of the conference will be increased technology sharing amongst researchers, as well as a new vision
and strategic plan for engineering biological systems for basic science and clinical translation. The specific
objectives of this R13 application are two-fold. The first is to provide support to eight ESI junior investigators
and twelve postdoctoral fellows or graduate students, whose submitted abstracts will be selected for podium
presentation based on scientific merit, with a focus on promoting women and underrepresented minorities. The
meeting will provide these investigators with essential exposure and mentoring to launch or expand their
academic research careers. The second objective is to foster adoption of new technologies to the CMBE
research community and promote the interdisciplinary collaboration. The meeting will provide a platform to
expose researchers in engineering, chemistry, biology, and data science to the latest techniques and develop
a pathway to increase the impact of CMBE research in human disease. Outcomes will be described in a white
paper summary in the Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering Journal.