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PLV: Plenarvorträge

PLV III

PLV III: Plenarvortrag

Montag, 18. März 2024, 14:00–14:45, H 0104

The cell as a material — •Gijsje Koenderink — Bionanoscience Department, Delft University of Technology, Kavli Institute of Nanoscience Delft, Delft, Netherlands

Cells are dynamic but also need to withstand large mechanical loads. This paradoxical mechanical behavior is governed by a polymer scaffold known as the cytoskeleton. It is still poorly understood how this biopolymer network can combine mechanical strength with the ability to dynamically adapt its structure and mechanics. I will summarize our recent findings obtained via quantitative measurements on living cells coupled with experiments using synthetic cells reconstituted from purified molecular components. I will focus on the role of mechanical crosstalk between the four cytoskeletal networks in the cell: actin filaments, microtubules, intermediate filaments and septins. These four filamentous systems contribute different structural and dynamical properties, but their activities are closely coordinated. I will show that combining cell and cell-free assays allows us to dissect the collaborative and individual roles of the cytoskeletal systems. Our findings may eventually be interesting to guide the search for selective anticancer drugs, since cancer cells often overexpress specific septins, intermediate filaments, and cytoskeletal crosslinker proteins leading to abnormal mechanical behaviors.