Year: 2016

Optical recordings are ubiquitous in current scientific research. As recording and storing images and videos have become simpler and cheaper over the past years, new and more efficient tools are needed to analyse the growing amount of data. While current scientific image analysis tools focus o...

Fate and function of anchorage-dependent cells depend on a variety of environmental cues, including those of mechanical nature. Previous progress in the understanding of cellular mechanosensitivity has been closely linked to the availability of artificial cell substrates of adjustable viscoelasticit...

Mechanosensation in many organs (e.g. lungs, heart, gut) is mediated by biosensors (like mechanosensitive ion channels), which convert mechanical stimuli into electrical and/or biochemical signals. To study those pathways, technical devices are needed that apply strain profiles to cells, and ideally...

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a highly aggressive malignancy with a dismal survival rate. Persistent activation of pancreatic stellate cells (PSCs) can perturb the biomechanical homoeostasis of the tumour microenvironment to favour cancer cell invasion. Here we report that ATRA, an acti...

Human cells can be easily deformed -- they stretch or become squashed under external pressure. The relationship between force and cell deformation changes in diseases such as cancer, lung disease and heart disease, as well as muscle disorders. To gain a better understanding of these diseases it is i...