Dresden 2026 – wissenschaftliches Programm
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 27: Cell Mechanics I
BP 27.10: Vortrag
Donnerstag, 12. März 2026, 12:15–12:30, BAR/0205
Nuclear downsizing: Dynamic volume and cell-cycle control in emerging tumour spheroids — •Vaibhav Mahajan1, Keshav Gajendra Babu1, Markus Mukenhirn1, Antje Garside1, Timon Beck1,2, Byung Ho Lee3, Kyoohyun Kim2, Carsten Werner4, Alf Honigmann1, Sebastian Aland5, Raimund Schlüßler1, and Anna Taubenberger1,4 — 1Dresden University of Technology, Dresden, Germany — 2Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, Erlangen — 3MPI-CBG, Dresden — 4Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research Dresden — 5Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Dresden
Tumour development involves biophysical changes across scales, yet how cancer cells regulate properties such as volume and mechanics within dense multicellular environments remains unclear. Using tuneable biohybrid hydrogels, we quantified cell and nuclear volumes as single cancer cells formed multicellular tumour spheroids. We found that transition to multicellularity led to strong reductions in cellular and nuclear volumes, delayed cell-cycle progression, and altered mechanics, with these changes tightly coupled. Nuclear volume dropped by up to 60%, not primarily due to confinement but due to cell-cycle adaptations, namely accumulation of smaller-sized G1 cells-an effect reversed by CDK1 inhibition. Additional nuclear volume decreases within clusters were associated with increased mass density and cell stiffness, both reversible upon cell release. Conversely, cells invading out of spheroids increased nuclear volumes and softened. These findings reveal how cancer cells dynamically adjust volume, cell-cycle state, and mechanics in the multicellular context.
Keywords: cell volume; cell mechanics; tumour spheroid; cell cycle; multicellularity