Seminar “Understanding cell extracellular matrix mechanical link: from molecular roles to emerging behaviors”
Date
Monday, 6th July 2015
Time
12:00 am
Place
University of Barcelona
Faculty of Physics Building
Room 3.20, 3rd floor
Speaker
Dr Pere Roca-Cusachs, Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (Spain)
Abstract
Cell proliferation and differentiation, as well as key processes in development, tumorigenesis, and wound healing, are determined by mechanical stimuli transmitted between cells and their environment.
However, how those stimuli are detected and regulated by cells remains largely unknown. One of the main types of structures transmitting mechanical forces to cells is that of integrin-based cell adhesions, which connect extracellular matrix proteins to the cell cytoskeleton through the transmembrane molecules integrins and different adaptor proteins. Understanding this system requires molecular biology tools to target specific proteins, biophysical tools to exert and measure forces at the subcellular level, and theoretical modelling to integrate molecular mechanical properties into cell response.
We employ this approach to dissect the molecular mechanisms by which cells withstand, detect, and transmit forces, and respond to tissue rigidity. In this talk, I will explain our findings showing that different integrins and adaptor proteins are adapted to either sensing or transmitting forces. Further, I will explain how cells use the binding dynamics between integrins and the extracellular matrix to detect and respond to matrix rigidity, and the implications that this has in cancer. Finally, I will show recent findings explaining how mechanical signals are integrated by an often forgotten player – the plasma membrane.
