NSF CAREER Award
Zhangli Peng, an assistant professor in the Richard and Loan Hill Department of Biomedical Engineering, has received a 2024 National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award.
The CAREER Award is one of the NSF’s most prestigious awards and supports early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to advance the mission of their department. Peng’s award is titled “CAREER: Predictive Multiscale Modeling of Cell Migration through Pores between Endothelial Cells,” focuses on how cells pass through an endothelial pore.
More specifically, Peng’s research involves using advanced computer simulations to predict how different components of these red blood cells, neutrophils, and cancer cells affect their ability to pass through small endothelial pores.
Previous research done by Peng motivated his current research and showed that healthy red blood cells in the spleen can migrate through a much smaller slit.
“For example, red blood cells around 8 microns frequently squeeze through endothelial pores around 0.5 microns in our spleens,” Peng said. “This is their regular physical fitness test, which destroys aged cells and diseased cells in malaria and blood disorders.”
Peng is looking to reveal the biomechanics and mechanobiology of transendothelial migration (TEM) of cells by multiscale modeling and its integration with experimental data. In terms of applications, his research will help to contribute knowledge about many hematological diseases, such as sickle cell disease, acute lung injury, and the spread of cancers.
Peng’s award was received from the Biomechanics and Mechanobiology program in NSF, which supports fundamental and transformative research in those fields. The program emphasizes the study of biological mechanics across multiple domains, from sub-cellular to whole organism.