Tissue Biophysics

与组织错误模式相关的挑战的变革性突破，例如癌症，需要全面了解细胞通讯。就像化学物质指导细胞分裂、生长和专门化以形成有机体一样，生物物理信号也是如此。机械和电信号在细胞的微环境中无处不在，但现在才被认为是细胞命运和可塑性的决定因素。可塑性被定义为一种变化的能力，是干细胞和癌细胞的一种特性，定义了胚胎发生和肿瘤发生。癌症的破坏性反映了通常在成熟细胞中受到抑制的胚胎信号的不适当表达。虽然分子很重要，但很明显，细胞电和光发射也可以预测和指导癌症。生物物理学在癌症中的作用是什么？它能被用来开发治疗方法吗？加拿大组织生物物理学二级研究主席Nirosha Murugan博士和她的团队旨在通过测量细胞的电学和光学特征来解码细胞通信的生物物理维度，因为它们致力于命运或恢复到塑性状态。此外，她和她的团队正在表征生物电，基于光的信号传导以及细胞与其微环境之间的相互作用之间的关系。利用生物物理学原理来操纵细胞命运和组织可塑性，Murugan博士将建立第一个全面的生物物理工具集，以检测和重新编程细胞，对癌症治疗和诊断具有全球意义。

Transformative breakthroughs to challenges associated with mispatterning of tissues, such as in cancer, requires the comprehensive understanding of cellular communication. Just as chemicals instruct cells to divide, grow, and specialize to form organisms, so do biophysical signals. Mechanical and electrical signals are pervasive in the cell's microenvironment but are only now being recognized as determinants of cell fate and plasticity. Defined as a capacity for change, plasticity is a property of stem cells and cancer cells, defining embryogenesis and tumorigenesis. The destructiveness of cancer reflects an inappropriate expression of embryonic signaling normally suppressed in mature cells. While molecules are important, it has become evident that cellular electricity and light emissions predict and instruct cancer too. What is the role of biophysics in cancer, and can it be exploited to develop therapeutics?Dr. Nirosha Murugan, Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Tissue Biophysics, and her team aim to decode the biophysical dimension of cellular communication by measuring the electrical and optical signatures of cells as they commit to fates or revert to plastic states. Further, she and her team are characterizing the relationships between bioelectricity, light-based signaling, and interactions between cells and their microenvironments. Using biophysics principles to manipulate cell fate and tissue plasticity, Dr. Murugan will establish the first comprehensive, biophysical toolset to detect and reprogram cells with global implications for cancer therapeutics and diagnostics.