Berlin 2015 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 15: Posters: Multi-cellular systems
BP 15.7: Poster
Monday, March 16, 2015, 17:30–19:30, Poster A
Growth Dynamics of MDCK II Clusters on Elastic Substrates — •Philipp Linke1, Carina Wollnik1, Sara Kaliman2, Damir Vurnek2, Ana-Sunčana Smith2, and Florian Rehfeldt1 — 1Third Institute of Physics - Biophysics, Georg-August-University, Göttingen, Germany — 2Institute for Theoretical Physics and Cluster of Excellence: Engineering of Advanced Materials, University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany
Cellular motility is an important factor in many processes like wound healing, tissue formation, and immune reactions. Cells adhere to their environment using focal adhesions and react to the stiffness of their surroundings. To study the response of a distinct cell type to different stiffness we use collagen-I coated polyacrylamide (PA) gels with well-controlled stiffness to mimic different environments.
MDCK II cells have proven to be very useful as model system for endothelial morphogenesis. When growing on a flat surface, these cells form a cluster monolayer after a short time. We found in our studies that clusters show a different growth behavior when cultured on PA gels with varied stiffness. The formation dynamics of these structures is controlled by cellular contractility and the balance of cell-cell and cell-matrix contacts. To create wound healing essays we seed the cells in culture inserts from ibidi, which are placed directly onto the collagen coated gels. We are using the open source software Micro Manager in combination with a motorized xy-stage and a heating and CO2 incubation system to do parallel live cell microscopy of several clusters in statistically equivalent, physiological conditions.