Bioengineering Facility for UV Structured Substrate Patterning

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The crawling movement and force generation of biological cells is an essential part of animal life, and can be seen in diverse situations from neurons wiring together the nervous system, leukocytes fighting infection, or in disease as in the case of cancerous cells metastasizing and invading new tissue. Key for crawling movement is the cellular interaction with the underlying substrate, where the cellular machinery forms adhesions to the surface, exerts forces to push and pull itself forward, and then remodels to continue advancing. During this process, cells follow a complex set of cues, including diffusive signals, as well as adherent protein gradients, and recent work has uncovered the role of mechanical gradients in guiding directional cell movement, however, the relative strengths of these distinct cues remains unclear. Understanding the mechanics involved in this process is essential for cellular biophysics, and will inform downstream applications in medical contexts. Additionally, control of these substrate properties will open new possibilities in micron-scale regulation of cell movement.