Please give a lot of attention and participation from the members of the Mechanical Engineering department.

▣ 주   제: Mechanisms of Biological Processes Driven by Cell-Matrix Interactions

▣ 연   사: Taeyoon Kim 박사

▣ 소   속: Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, Purdue University

▣ 일   시: 2024. 05. 29.(Wed) 13:30

▣ 장   소: 제4공학관 D601호

▣ 초   청: 이형석 교수

▣ 초   록

During various physiological processes, cells interact mechanically with a surrounding extracellular matrix (ECM). Contractile forces generated in cells by the cytoskeleton are transmitted to ECM, resulting in structural remodeling of ECM. To better understand cell-ECM interactions, a myriad of in vitro experiments and simulations have been performed during recent decades, with the assumption that ECM behaves as an elastic material. However, physiological ECMs are viscoelastic, exhibiting stress relaxation or creep over time. It remains poorly understood how the load- and time-dependent properties of ECM affect mechanical interactions between cells and ECM. We have employed computational models to investigate the mechanisms of biological processes driven by interactions between cells and viscoelastic ECM. For example, we demonstrated that contractile cells, such as fibroblast, can remodel surrounding ECM via the generation, propagation, and relaxation of contractile forces. We also showed how cancer cells invade into dense, viscoelastic ECM by exerting protrusive forces. In addition, we showed that dividing cells exert both expansile forces from expanding mitotic spindle and contractile forces from cytokinetic ring to make a sufficient space for successful cell division. We verified simulation results using in vitro experiments performed with cells encapsulated by hydrogels with tunable rheological properties or collagen matrices. Our studies provide key insights into understanding how physiologically relevant mechanical interactions between cells and viscoelastic ECM mediate diverse biological processes.