Berlin 2024 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 11: Cell Mechanics I

BP 11.1: Invited Talk

Tuesday, March 19, 2024, 09:30–10:00, H 2032

Mechanochemical regulation of epithelial barrier formation and function — •Carien Niessen — Department Cell Biology of the Skin and CECAD, University of Cologne

How cell shape and mechanics controls epithelial barrier morphogenesis and regeneration is still poorly understood. In the squamous stratifying epithelium of the skin, the epidermis, stereotypic changes in cell shape guide the differentiation and upward migration of cells to form a barrier that is robustly renewed in the face of multiple challenges including mechanical stress. Combining cell and mechanobiology, genetics and in collaboration with the Manning lab (Syracuse University) in silico modelling, my laboratory asks how cell shape, fate and position are coordinated to control the formation and renewal of spatially defined functional compartments within the epidermis. I will discuss how adhesive junctions and associated cytoskeletons control tissue mechanics and how dynamic changes in junctions and signalling locally alter cell mechanics to coordinate cell fate, shape and position in the epidermis that enable renewal while maintaining epithelial barrier function. I furthermore will touch how changes in these mechanochemical networks disturb tissue homeostasis and promote disease.

Keywords: epithelial cell and tissue dynamics; soft matter physics; adhesion and cytoskeleton; cell signalling