Title:

Role of Elasticity in Regulation of Cell Adhesion and Migration

Speaker:

Prof. Alireza Sarvestani

Affiliation:

Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maine

When:

Thursday, March 17, 2011 at 11:00:00 AM   Add to Calendar

Where:

MARC Building, Room 101/Auditorium

Host:

Arash Yavari
arash.yavari@ce.gatech.edu
404-894-2436

Abstract

Cell behavior is mediated by variety of physiochemical properties of extracellular matrix (ECM). Material composition, surface chemistry, roughness, and distribution pattern of cell adhesive proteins are among the ECM properties which are known to modulate multiple aspects of cellular function, ranging from adhesion to the lineage commitment and differentiation. Mechanical stiffness of the ECM, in particular, is found to be a major regulator for the cellular adhesion and motility. Experiments show that cells in general, spread to a greater extent and exhibit larger focal adhesions on increasingly stiffer substrates. Despite such apparent adhesion preference for stiffness, cell motility appears to reduce as the rigidity of underlying substrate increases. My general research efforts are aiming at development of a system level understanding of cellular behavior as a function of physical, mechanical, and chemical properties of the ECM. In this talk, I will discuss several modeling efforts to describe how cell adhesion and motility can be regulated by the compliance of underlying bio-adhesive substrates. In particular, I will address the following issues using a simple mathematical and physical language: (1) how cells are able to sense and respond to the change of rigidity of the substrate at the scale of a focal adhesion point and (2) how cellular locomotion and speed of motility can be controlled by the substrate elasticity. Understanding the pathways through which cells sense and respond to the ECM compliance provides a deeper insight into many in vivo physiological and pathological processes and also holds the promise to improve and perhaps optimize the properties of synthetic biomaterials in tissue engineering applications

Biography

Alireza Sarvestani obtained his PhD degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2005 from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York. After three years of postdoctoral work in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of South Carolina, he joined the University of Maine as an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering. He works on different theoretical subjects in soft matter and biological physics, with a focus on the role of forces and elasticity in cell adhesion