Regensburg 2004 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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AKB: Biologische Physik

AKB 21: Bioadhesion and Molecular Forces

AKB 21.3: Hauptvortrag

Dienstag, 9. März 2004, 12:30–13:00, H40

Cell Organization in Soft Media due to Active Mechanosensing — •Ulrich Schwarz — Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Golm

Adhering cells actively probe the mechanical properties of their environment in order to position and orient themselves. In an elastically anisotropic environment, cells prefer to orient in the direction of maximal effective stiffness. By converting this observation into an extremum principle in linear elasticity theory, we can predict cell organization in soft media in excellent agreement with experiments with fibroblasts on elastic substrates and in hydrogels. We also discuss how effective cell behaviour might follow from the stochastic dynamics of cell-matrix contacts under force.