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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 21: Biopolymers and Biomaterials II (with CPP)

BP 21.1: Invited Talk

Wednesday, March 16, 2011, 10:15–10:45, ZEU 260

Stretching Proteins out of equilibrium: how extracellular matrix proteins serve as mechanotransducers — •Viola Vogel — Department of Materials, ETH Zürich, Switzerland

While physical factors and material properties regulate many cell functions, the underpinning mechanisms how cells and tissues sense mechanical stimuli and convert them into biochemical signals are not well understood. As cells explore their environments, they pull on extracellular matrix and thereby stretch those proteins that physically connect the exterior microenvironment with the contractile cytoskeleton. Detailed mechanisms will be discussed how the stretching of proteins can switch their functional display. Deciphering how proteins can serve as mechano-chemical signaling switches is not only essential to learn how cells probe and respond to their environments, but it has also far reaching implications in tissue engineering, systems biology and medicine.