Nathan Sniadecki, Ph.D.
Department of Mechanical Engineering
E-mail: nsniadec@u.wa...


TITLE:

"The Little Cell That Could Tug: Traction Forces,  
Intercellular Forces, and Mechanotransduction at the
Cell-Matrix and Cell-Cell Interface."


ABSTRACT:

Forces are essential for a cell's ability to adhere,migrate, or contract.
These forces are regulated by interactions between actin, myosin, and
focal adhesion proteins, but mechanical factors such as stiffness, cell
shape, adhesion area, and external stresses influence a  cell's ability to
generate force.  It has been difficult to characterize how cells sense and
respond to mechanical factors because of shortcomings in the current
techniques to control the cellular microenvironment.  I will present the
engineering approaches my lab uses to study cellular forces in response
to mechanical factors.  We focus on cell mechanics in the cardiovascular
system and are specifically interested in the role that mechanical factors
play in atherosclerosis and thrombosis.  We use 1) arrays of micro-
or nanoscale cantilever posts to measure cellular forces, 2) engineered
system to control the mechanical forces acting on cells, and 3)
computational approaches for image analysis and cell mechanics
models. In my talk, I will highlight our recent work on how applied
forces can regulate cytoskeletal tension through mechanotransduction.
In multicellular structures like the endothelium, changes in cytoskeletal
tension in individual cells affects the tugging force between cells. This
tugging force, in turn, can affect the maintenance of the cell-cell contacts.
Together these engineering approaches help advance a pathway towards
understanding how cells operate in a physical world and how detection
of mechanical changes can be early indicators of pathological conditions.