Dresden 2011 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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CPP: Fachverband Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik

CPP 28: Biopolymers and Biomaterials II (jointly with BP)

CPP 28.1: Hauptvortrag

Mittwoch, 16. März 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.