Meenal Datta awarded Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) from NIH to investigate immune cell response to mechanical forces
Meenal Datta, assistant professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering at the University of Notre Dame, has received the Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), part of the National Institutes of Health.
The award, which provides $1.9 million over five years, will enable Datta and her lab to contribute to the developing fields of immunomechanics and mechano-immunology by investigating the ways in which immune cells respond to mechanical forces.
Datta, an expert on the biological and mechanical features of tissue microenvironments, will use MIRA funding to establish an immune “mechanome” — a complete inventory of the mechanical responses and characteristics of immune cells. This will provide crucial insights into the relationship between mechanobiology and immunology.
Many diseases and conditions trigger inflammation capable of complicating or entirely thwarting immune function and treatment outcomes. Datta has previously investigated these relationships in infectious disease, genetic abnormalities, and cancer. This is the second time in two years that the NIH has invested in Datta’s research in this area.
“Little is known about the ways immune cells respond to mechanical forces,” said Datta. “A better understanding of the biophysical relationships between these forces and immune cell populations and functions will provide key insights into disease progression and treatment resistance.”
To this end, her lab uses mechanobiological tools combined with mouse models of health and disease, single-cell RNA sequencing, functional immunology, artificial intelligence-informed bioinformatics, and intravital imaging.
Datta joined the Notre Dame faculty in 2021. She teaches in the Notre Dame Bioengineering program, the Materials Science and Engineering doctoral program, and in Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering.
Latest Research
- ND-GAIN to launch Global Urban Climate Assessment, measuring climate resiliency at the city levelBuilding on its pioneering Country Index, which ranks climate vulnerability and readiness across more than 180 countries, the University of Notre Dame’s Global Adaptation Initiative (ND-GAIN) will soon begin tracking the progress of such efforts in cities around the world. Based on evolving climate vulnerability and adaptation research, the Global Urban Climate Assessment (GUCA) aims to develop a pilot decision-support tool to inform actions and investments in urban areas.
- A laboratory for social innovation: Resilience and recovery in UkraineThe war in Ukraine has showcased the resilience of the Ukrainian people and made the country a living laboratory where new models of social development can be conceived and tested. It was a frosty morning in February 2022, and dark clouds hung overhead. On this otherwise normal winter day, Ukrainians woke to news they had long dreaded. Russia had launched a full-scale invasion, and though its forces were still hundreds of miles from the city of Lviv, the life of its residents had already changed. Eventually, the war would reach this medieval city in Ukraine’s far west. Missiles would rattle its buildings, but its people have remained unshakeable. On that Thursday morning, students at Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU) woke up and went to class, and they have been doing it ever since. In times of war, the university’s role is even more essential. Academic research has helped document Ukrainians’ resilience in the face of adversity, and it seeks to lay the foundation for a recovery that ensures freedom and prosperity for the next generations.…
- Rare Books and Special Collections exhibit explores emancipation during the 19th centuryMaking and Unmaking Emancipation in Cuba and the United States explores the fraught, circuitous and unfinished course of emancipation over the 19th century in Cuba and the United States. It will remain on display in 102 Hesburgh Library, Rare Books and Special Collections through December 15.
- For the Second Year, Notre Dame Ranked Among the Top Schools For Graduate Studies In EntrepreneurshipFor consecutive years, the University of Notre Dame has ranked within the top 50 graduate schools for entrepreneurship, as recognized by The Princeton Review in its annual “Top 50 Undergraduate and Top 50 Graduate Schools for Entrepreneurship Studies” ranking. The ESTEEM Graduate Program at the University is a key contributor to this accolade. Furthermore, the University’s comprehensive entrepreneurial profile also includes programming and course work offering from the Mendoza College of Business and the Keough School of Global Affairs. The University secured the 18th position in this year’s ranking.…
- AMST Students Work with One More Citizen to Support Members of the Local CommunityThis semester, students in Professor Jennifer Huynh’s Immigrant America course were part of the inaugural semester of volunteers for One More Citizen, a non-profit that prepares members of the local community to take the U.S. citizenship test. …
- NDTL Develops CO₂ Component Test Capability and Successfully Tests High Efficiency Transcritical CO₂ CompressorNDTL Propulsion and Power (NDTL) has designed and built a closed test loop and a CO₂ storage and management system to support testing for supercritical and transcritical CO₂ power and thermal management components. The test loop can be installed in NDTL’s 10-megawatt, 5-megawatt, or 3-megawatt test cells to match the power, speed, and flow requirements of a particular test article. NDTL recently completed testing of the first stage of a high-efficiency multistage transcritical CO₂ compressor.…
