Join Professor Gijsje Koenderink of TU Delft for a research seminar as part of the Force Talk series entitled "Role of cytoskeletal crosstalk in cell mechanics".

Abstract

Cells are dynamic but also need to withstand large mechanical loads. This paradoxical mechanical behaviour is governed by a polymer scaffold known as the cytoskeleton. How can the cytoskeleton combine mechanical strength with the ability to dynamically adapt its structure and mechanics? I will summarize our recent insights in this question obtained via quantitative measurements on living cells coupled with experiments on cell-free model systems. I will focus on the role of mechanical crosstalk between the actin and intermediate filament cytoskeleton, the two main determinants of cell mechanics. These two filamentous systems contribute different structural and dynamical properties, but their activities are closely coordinated. I will show that combining cell and cell-free assays allows us to dissect the collaborative and individual roles of the cytoskeletal systems. Our findings may eventually be interesting to guide the search for selective anticancer drugs, since cancer cells often overexpress specific intermediate filaments or cytoskeletal crosslinker proteins leading to abnormal mechanical behaviours.

Speaker

Professor Dr Gijsje Koenderink is full professor in the Bionanoscience Department at TU Delft and Medical Delta Professor at the Erasmus Medical School in Rotterdam. She trained as a soft matter scientist at Utrecht University (Ph.D. 2003) and as a Marie Curie postdoctoral Fellow at the VU University Amsterdam (2003-2004) and Harvard University (2004-2006). Between 2006-2019, she headed the Biological Soft Matter group at the AMOLF Institute in Amsterdam. In September 2019, she transferred her group to Delft. The Koenderink lab is an experimental research group centred around the soft matter physics of living matter. The central aim is to understand the physical mechanisms that enable living matter (cells and tissues) to combine mechanical strength with the ability to actively generate forces and change shape. To this end, the team combines concepts and methods from soft matter physics, biophysics, synthetic biology, and mechanobiology. Through collaborations, the research also extends to food and biomedical materials and research into implications of abnormal cell/tissue mechanics for cancer metastasis and thrombosis.

Professor Koenderink received various distinctions, including an NWO VIDI (2008), ERC Starting Grant (2013), NWO VICI (2019), the P-G. de Gennes Prize (2018), the Dresden Physics Prize (2020), APS DSOFT fellowship (2024), and elected membership of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). She is a co-recipient of the NWO-Gravitation program Basyc (2017-2027) and co-lead of the NWO-SUMMIT program EVOLF (2024-2034), both devoted to the bottom-up assembly of a minimal living cell from nonliving building blocks.

Professor Koenderink is co-director of the Kavli Institute for Nanoscience Delft, a member of the advisory boards of the Institut Jacques Monod (Paris) and the Dutch synthetic biology association SynBioNL, and editorial board member for Physical Biology and PRX.

How to join:

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Mechanics of Life Leverhulme DSP Force Talks Series

Force Talks is a seminar series hosted by the Mechanics of Life Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarship Programme at King's College London. We are honoured to welcome world leaders in mechanobiology.

The series aims to showcase the rapidly expanding interdisciplinary field of mechanobiology and mechanical forces. We welcome those from academia and industry to attend and take part in the discussions.

The programme is funded by the Leverhulme Trust doctoral scholarship grant "Understanding the mechanics of life".

Learn more about the Mechanics of Life Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarship Programme