UROP Research Mentor Project Submission Portal: Submission #631 | Center for Undergraduate Research and Academic Engagement

Submission information

Submission Number: 631

Submission ID: 9596

Submission UUID: 448b1e3c-5b72-473c-8855-d7cfda9e987b

Submission URI: /urop-research-mentor-project-submission-portal

Submission Update: /urop-research-mentor-project-submission-portal?token=glZoKlgtwjJnH75vXwDQlLp0FvMNgxCs_VsKX1uZ9AU

Created: Fri, 09/29/2023 - 09:54 PM

Completed: Fri, 09/29/2023 - 10:04 PM

Changed: Wed, 10/11/2023 - 07:15 PM

Remote IP address: 144.174.212.38

Submitted by: Anonymous

Language: English

Is draft: No

Webform: UROP Project Proposal Portal

Submitted to: UROP Research Mentor Project Submission Portal

Research Mentor Information

Primary Research Mentor Name Christopher Solis, PhD, MBA

Research Mentor Preferred Pronouns {Empty}

When potential research assistants are reaching out via email, what is your preferred honorific? Dr.

Contact Email (FSU Email if affiliated) csolis@fsu.edu

Position Title Faculty

FSU College (if applicable) Health and Human Sciences

FSU Department or Non-FSU Organization Affiliation Health, Nutrition, and Food Sciences

Headshot (optional) Screenshot 2023-08-16 at 9.18.56 AM.png

Additional Research Mentor(s)

Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from above) {Empty}

Research Assistant Supervisor Preferred Pronouns {Empty}

Research Assistant Supervisor Preferred Honorific? {Empty}

Contact Email (FSU Email if affiliated) {Empty}

Name of Other Faculty/Collaborator(s) (if applicable) {Empty}

Other Faculty/Collaborator(s) Preferred Pronouns {Empty}

Other Faculty/Collaborator(s) Preferred Honorific? {Empty}

Contact Email (FSU Email if affiliated) {Empty}

Overall Project Details

Title of the Project Development of a support frame for sustaining cardiac muscle slices

Project Keywords cardiac, 3D printing, CAD, 3Dprinting, Arduino

Are you currently looking for research assistants? No

Number of Research Assistants Needed 2

Relevant Research Assistant Major(s) Biology/biological sciences, computer and information sciences, Exercise physiology, Information technology, Health services/allied health/health sciences, Mechanical engineering, Entrepreneurship/entrepreneurial studies, Mathematics, Statistics, Chemical engineering, Neuroscience, Biochemistry, Electrical and electronics engineering, Computer engineering, Clinical nutrition/nutritionist, Chemistry, Physics, Bioengineering and biomedical engineering, Computational science, Computational biology.

Project Location: On FSU Main Campus

If the project location is off campus, does the research assistant(s) need to provide their own transportation? FSU bus service

Please select the choice that most accurately describes your expectations for the research assistant(s): Partially Remote

Approximately how many hours a week would the research assistant(s) need to work? 8

Roughly what time frame do you expect research assistant(s) to work? Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)

Overall Research Project Description The heart is able to grow in response to exercise. This healthy growth stems from the enlargement of every heart muscle cell in the heart. Heart muscle cells grow by assembling more and more cytoskeleton, known as sarcomere in muscle cells. In the lab, we can force this growth by making cells work harder and their natural response is to build more sarcomeres. One of the proteins that is a structural member of these sarcomeres is alpha-actinin, which acts as a cross-linker to anchor other structural proteins like actin. We recently published a paper demonstrating that we can use two drugs to control the assembly and disassembly of sarcomeres. To this day, we have tracked the growth by "freezing" the cardiac muscle cells and using special dyes to look at the sarcomeres. Nevertheless, our goal is to be able to track the growth and atrophy of sarcomeres in real time in cardiac muscle tissue. As such, the goal of this project will be to develop a 3D-printed frame that allows to to sustain myocardial slices to study the basic biology of the heart. The 3D-printed frames should hold the cardiac muscles without letting them get loose

Research Tasks The research tasks for this project include the following
1) Select the appropriate CAD software (e.g. Fusion 360) to build the models.
2) Generate iterations of prototypes to test their suitability to hold myocardial sheets
3) Keep in consideration the spatial constraints imposed by the culture dishes
3) Optional: develop a electromechanical feedback system

Skills that research assistant(s) may need: Knowledge of use of computer-aided design software (CAD)
Knowledge of basic 3D printing techniques
Optional: knowledge in design and assembly of Arduino micrcocontrollers

Mentoring Philosophy My mentoring philosophy is simple: you can reach the stars if you are in a supportive environment. My goal as a mentor is to provide the right conditions for my mentees to thrive. Examples of how I achieve this are by first and foremost, being available for my mentees to ask questions and get help at the earliest possible. Second, I provide the motivation and the key information for trainees to understand what is the main problem and why it must be solved. Third, I provide my trainees with the career advice they need to that from day one they can start getting feedback of where they can go with their careers. I am cognizant that motivation is an important driver of success because without the right catalyst the smallest challenge ahead will become daunting.

Please provide a link to your publications, a video clip, or a website for your research project (if applicable): My former lab page: https://chicago.medicine.uic.edu/russell-lab/ My lab page will come online soon.

Please add any additional information here (if applicable): https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=vAoAMrwAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao

UROP Program Elements

Mentor Handbook, FAQs, and Communication Yes

UROP Performance Evaluation Yes

Materials Grant Yes

UROP Poster Presentation Yes

{Empty}

Year 2023

update url https://cre.fsu.edu/urop-research-mentor-project-submission-portal?element_parents=elements/research_mentor_information/headshot_optional_&ajax_form=1&_wrapper_format=drupal_ajax&token=glZoKlgtwjJnH75vXwDQlLp0FvMNgxCs_VsKX1uZ9AU