Mechanocytometry
Mechanocytometry Session
Thursday, September 21st, 2023, at 9:00 pm
Chairs: Marta Urbanska & Oliver Otto
Integrating a biophysical perspective into the description of cellular behaviors fosters a comprehensive understanding of health and disease complementing the biochemical approach often followed in biology. In its broad understanding, mechanocytometry encompasses all methods that measure mechanical properties of cells, such as stiffness or deformability. These properties reflect the state of the cytoskeleton, the cell membrane and the organelles and are thus considered a label-free biomarker for cell and tissue function. In this year’s session we will focus first on the role of the cytoskeleton for cell migration and cell polarity (Franziska Lautenschläger, Universität des Saarlandes). Second, we will shed light on the question how smart materials and microfluidic technologies contribute to our understanding of mechanobiology (Salvatore Girardo, Max-Planck-Insitut für die Physik des Lichts, Erlangen).
Cytoskeletal fibres as building blocks for life
Affiliation
Universität des Saarlands, Saarbrücken, Germany
Abstract
The cytoskeleton is a fibrous network of biopolymers with incredible functions in living cells. In my lab, we study the role of the cytoskeleton in the structure, properties, state, and movement of living cells. For example, we study how the cytoskeleton determines the shape of cells, their mechanical properties, and their ability to adhere or migrate.
The cytoskeleton consists of three different subtypes, namely actin, microtubules and intermediate filaments. In this talk, I will specifically report on the role of microtubules in immune cell migration and their mechanical properties. I will also discuss the differences in mechanical properties between adherent and suspended cells.
Biosketch
Franziska Lautenschläger received her PhD in Biophysics from the University of Cambridge. During this time she worked mainly on the mechanics of cells, in particular stem cells. She then moved to the Institut Curie, where she became interested in the migration of immune cells. Once independent as a junior professor in Saarbrücken, she combined both interests and worked on the mechanics and resulting migration properties of immune cells. During her time as junior professor, she was also appointed junior group leader at the Leibniz Institute of New Materials, also in Saarbrücken. Since 2020, she has been a full professor of biophysics at Saarland University. Her group tries to understand how the different parts of the cytoskeleton control cellular structure, dynamics and mechanics.
Harnessing Microfluidic Technologies for Advancing Mechanobiology
Affiliation
Lab-on-a-chip Systems Technology Platform, Max-Planck-Insitut für die Physik des Lichts & Max-Planck-Zentrum für Physik und Medizin, Erlangen, Germany
Abstract
Microfluidics is a field that involves the manipulation of small volumes of fluids on the microscale. In recent years, microfluidics has become increasingly relevant due to its ability to provide new insights into cellular and molecular processes, enabling the development of high-throughput and sensitive assays for disease diagnosis, drug discovery and personalized medicine. The flow of cells inside tailored design microfluidic chips can enable a high-throughput and sensitive analysis and sorting of cells based on their physical phenotype. Furthermore, droplet microfluidic technologies provide a unique tool for the development of tailored soft microgel beads mimicking cell physical properties, such as size and elasticity. The development of reliable, simplified and standardized microfluidic-based technologies is essential to enable their broader use and facilitate the translation of research findings into practical applications. Here we illustrate a portfolio of microfluidic chips and standardized cell-mimicking microgel beads rationally designed for enabling the analysis, sorting, and mimics of cells based on their physical properties. Their development was carried out to improve the performance of microfluidic-based technologies by looking at their easy usage, improve performance and reliability. These techniques have the potential to impact various fields, including biophysics and medicine enabling a unique, faster, sensitive, and cost-effective analysis and manipulation of cells.
Biosketch
Salvatore Girardo investigates microfabrication technologies primarily in the area of microfluidics applied to biology and biophysics. He is a Physicist and author on 60 scientific publications and inventor on 3 patents. In 2008 he got a PhD in Nanoscience at the University of Salento (Italy), working on the development of new strategies for the liquid flow control at microscales. In 2013 he joined the Biotechnology Center (TU Dresden, Germany) to setup and manage a new facility, where he implemented novel organ-on-chip platforms, and microfluidic-based methods for cell-mimicking, analysis and treatment. Since 2019 he is the head of the Lab-on-a-chip Systems Technology Platform at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light in Erlangen (Germany), working on the development of smart materials and microfluidic technologies mainly applied in the area of mechanobiology.
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