BIOPHYSICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER
6
SEPTEMBER
2014
Know the Editors
Jochen Guck
Biotechnology Center
Technische Universität Dresden
Editor for Cell Biophysics
Section
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.
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.
New Insights into Lipid Mono-
layers from Coarse-grained
Simulation Techniques
by Mark
Santer, which highlights
The
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.
Biophysical Journal Corner
Jochen Guck
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