Biophysical Newsletter - September 2014

6

BIOPHYSICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER

2014

SEPTEMBER

Biophysical Journal Corner

Know the Editors Jochen Guck

New & Notables The following articles are noteworthy articles from the September 2 issue of Biophysical Journal (107[5]). Let’s Twist (the S4) Again by Teresa Giraldez, which high- lights the paper Probing Al- pha-310 Transitions in a Voltage Sensing S4 Helix by Ana Correa, Tomoya Kubota, Jerome Lacroix, and Francisco Bezanilla. Mechanism of Collapse of Heterogeneous Lipid Monolayers by Peter Tieleman, Svetlana Baoukina, Dmitri Rozmanov, and Eduardo Mendez-Villu- endas. Bootstrapping New Protein Folds by Robert Best, which highlights Smooth Functional Transition along a Mutational Pathway with an Abrupt Protein Fold Switch by Stefan Wallin and Christian Holzgräfe. New Insights into Lipid Mono- layers from Coarse-grained Simulation Techniques by Mark Santer, which highlights The

Biotechnology Center Technische Universität Dresden Editor for Cell Biophysics Section

Jochen Guck

Q: What is your area of research? We are interested in the mechanical properties of entire cells and tissues. We develop photonic, mi- crofluidic, and scanning-probe tools to measure mechanical properties and then test their bio- logical importance. Our research shows that cell mechanics is intricately linked with cell functions such as cell migration, division, or phagocytosis. A stiff cell has a harder time migrating through tight spaces than a soft cell. Cancer cells, for example, are softer than normal cells, especially when they are metastatic and migrate through the body. Thus, we try to diagnose cancer by the increased deformability of cells and try to find novel ways to treat the disease. Mechanical phenotyping can generally be used to characterize cells, to monitor physiological changes (such as stem cell differentiation), and to diagnose patho- logical alterations (such as metastatic progression or inflammation). Currently, we are establishing a microfluidic method to measure cell mechanics at the throughput of flow cytometers (hundreds of cells per second), in order to translate our ideas for widespread application. Recently, we have also started to investigate whether and how cells respond to mechanical properties of their sur- roundings. We are especially interested in assess- ing the importance of this “mechanosensing” in pathological conditions of the central nervous system, such as spinal cord injury or multiple sclerosis. Our ultimate goal is the transfer of our findings to medical application for improved diagnoses of diseases and novel approaches in regenerative medicine.

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