BPCPPDYSOE21 – scientific programme
Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Updates | Downloads | Help
BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 7: Cell Mechanics III
BP 7.3: Invited Talk
Monday, March 22, 2021, 14:40–15:10, BPa
Towards the mechanical characterization of neuronal network formation — Paulina Wysmolek2, Florian Huhnke2, Katja Salbaum1, Joachim Spatz2, and •Friedhelm Serwane1,2 — 1LMU, Department of Physics, Munich — 2Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, Heidelberg
In recent years, researchers have engineered multicellular 3D systems, organoids, which share the same cell types and tissue organization as their in vivo counterparts. Those in vitro models provide an opportunity to glimpse at how biology self-assembles neuronal networks and how nanoscale building blocks, such as cell-cell adhesion molecules, contribute to the formation of tissue shape, structure and function. In this talk I will present the current and future research of our newly established ERC-group. We will explore, how tissue mechanical properties affect the formation and function of retina organoids. For this, we build on our expertise in mechanics measurements (1,2) and retina organoid technology. Quantifying the mechanics of neuronal systems opens the door to neurodegenerative disease modeling as it will be performed by our group. In addition, it allows developing a biophysical understanding how neuronal networks are initially formed.
(1) Serwane et al., In vivo quantification of spatially-varying mechanical properties in developing tissues. Nature Methods, 2017
(2) Mongera et al., A fluid-to-solid jamming transition underlies vertebrate body axis elongation. Nature, 2018