Join Dr Ada Cavalcanti-Adam from the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg for a Force Talk entitled 'Local control of receptor-mediated adhesion for the regulation of cellular and molecular forces.' 

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Abstract:

Mechanical and chemical properties of the extracellular environment regulate cell adhesion and migration. Designing materials and tools which allow the local control of cell-matrix and cell-cell adhesion is of great interest to address how specific receptor-ligand interactions affect cell mechanotransduction. I will present the development of surface functionalisation strategies to control integrin clustering for the generation of molecular and cellular forces during adhesion. Such surface functionalisation strategies applied to hydrogels also allow to elucidate the crosstalk between integrins and growth factors in the regulation of cell adhesion and mechanotransduction signaling. In the last part of my presentation, I will introduce the application of opto-chemical and DNA-based tools to control the assembly and disassembly of E-cadherin-mediated cell-cell junctions and the impact on collective cell adhesion dynamics and forces.