Role of nonlinear elasticity in long-range mechanical interaction between cells
Ayelet Lesman
Laboratory of Biomechanics of Cells and Tissues
School of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Tel-Aviv University

The environment of living cells is a complex three-dimensional fibrous structure which has unique mechanical properties including elastic nonlinearity and viscoelasticity. Another important mechanical aspect of biological systems is the ability of cells to actively generate force against their environment. Such forces are transmitted to the surroundings to induce loads (displacements, strains and stresses) within the extracellular matrix; these persist hundreds of microns away, and can influence cell function such as morphology, migration, and differentiation. Long-range deformations were thus proposed as a means for cells to mechanically communicate with each other, and have been demonstrated to play a key role in various biological processes, as diverse as capillary sprouting, cancel invasion, heart-beat synchronisation, morphogenesis and wound healing.
In our biomechanics group we use biological experiments and finite elements simulations to better understand how cellular forces coordinate with matrix mechanics to regulate biological processes, and the physical mechanisms that govern this process. In this talk, I will present our finite element simulations- which are directly motivated by our biological experiments- describing how cellular forces are transmitted by fibrous networks to reach neighbouring cells, and the influence of matrix nonlinear elasticity in mediating this process. Our results indicate that matrix nonlinearity can enable cells to efficiently sense and respond to mechanical signals sent by other cells located at far distances.

ההרצאה תתקיים ביום ראשון 03.12.17, בשעה 14:00
בחדר 315, הבניין הרב תחומי, אוניברסיטת תל אביב