Dresden 2026 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 37: Tissue Mechanics II
BP 37.7: Talk
Friday, March 13, 2026, 11:15–11:30, BAR/0106
Understanding tissue mechanics through tumour organoids — •Mathilde G. Lettinga1, Vaibhav Mahajan1, Raimund Schlüßler1, Stefanie Hübner2,3, Valeria Lozovanu2,3, Franziska Baenke2,3,4, Daniel E. Stange2,3,4, and Anna V. Taubenberger1 — 1BIOTEC, CMCB, TU Dresden — 2VTG, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, TU Dresden — 3DKTK, Heidelberg — 4NCT/UCC, Dresden
Tumours exhibit altered physical properties that manifest across spatial scales. Compared to healthy tissue, solid tumours are typically stiffer, which can partly be attributed to the extracellular matrix. However, the contributions of the epithelial cancer cells to the emergent tissue properties remain unclear.
Aiming to elucidate the role of cells in tissue mechanics, we investigated the mechanical and morphological properties of patient-derived colorectal liver metastasis organoids. Organoids from different patients varied in morphology, displaying either a large central lumen or a multitude of small lumina. We performed bulk compression with AFM and found that single-luminal organoids are stiffer and more elastic than multi-luminal organoids. Concurrently, Brillouin microscopy in situ showed a higher Brillouin frequency shift for single-luminal organoids, indicating lower compressibility. 3D segmentation revealed more elongated, ordered, homogeneous and smaller nuclei in the single-luminal organoids compared to their multi-luminal counterparts. Thus, our data suggest that the mechanical properties of organoids are coupled to the physical properties of their constituent cells.
Keywords: organoids; rheology; cancer; mechanics