CAREER: Flow, Failure, fluctuations and the Topology of Vascular Networks

University Of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA

Investigators

Abstract

Experimental data both in plants and animals indicate that the vasculature permeating a wide array of tissues and organs, such as plant leaves and the brain, is hierarchically organized and dominated by nested cycles. The PI will investigate the physical principles behind the emergence of such hierarchically organized, reticulate circulatory systems. Complex multicellular life would be inconceivable without the evolution of space filling circulatory systems to distribute nutrients and collect waste. Vascular systems are ubiquitous and they have some common features, but also distinctive differences. Taming that complexity can provide intuition about ecological adaptations in plants to deal with intermittent or long term drought. The work will also offer a profound understanding on how subtle modifications in human vasculature are associated with diseases such as hypertension and how events like stroke affect the circulation in the brain. The PI will work with education experts at her institution to integrate a research approach into a classroom setting at the introductory course level and expose undergraduates very early on to authentic research experiences. In addition, in partnership with the Biology department, she will design and implement a pilot program to create a handheld device application for use by the general public that allows users to scan barcodes and access information about plants specimens at the botanical gardens on campus. The PI will investigate the physical principles behind the emergence of such hierarchically organized, reticulate circulatory systems. The work will focus on three key thrusts (a) How do the loopy, hierarchical vascular structures across different taxa and kingdoms compare with each other and how specific is the detailed architecture of a vascular system to an organ or a species? (b) Why did these hierarchically nested structures emerge independently several times in both plants and animals? (c) How is hierarchical nestedness maintained in animal vascular systems where vascular remodeling predicts heavy pruning of the vascular structures? The PI's work will be primarily theoretical and computational, but motivated and driven by experimental data, acquired by collaborating teams (animal data) and undergraduates (plant data) under the PI's supervision. Active participation of undergraduate students in research is the core element of the PI's educational plan.