Cellular Mechanics and Interactions

The Extracellular Matrix Regulates Tissue Mechanics to Enable Cyclic Lymph Node Remodelling for Sustained Immunity

The paper quantifies ECM's role in lymph node mechanics and shows how ECM stiffness and FRC contractility affect tissue remodelling and expansion.

Live confocal imaging of cellular touch responses upon local quantifiable mechanical stimulation in plant cells

This paper develops a system to apply quantifiable mechanical stress to plant cells and observe their responses using confocal imaging, aiming to uncover molecular mechanisms of touch response.

Action of cofilin on ADP-Pi-containing actin filaments

This study investigates how cofilin binds and severs actin filaments containing ADP-Pi-actin, revealing that cofilin clusters form preferentially on ADP-actin subunits and severing is slower at ADP-Pi-actin boundaries.

Septin inhibitors exert opposing effects on distinct higher-order septin structures in melanoma cells

This study evaluates three septin-targeting compounds' effects on septin structures and viability in melanoma cells, revealing divergent impacts on different septin assemblies.

A mechanical model of multicellular remodelling in epithelial monolayers

This paper introduces a mechanical model to simulate subcellular and tissue remodelling in epithelial monolayers, showing how deformation history affects tissue recovery.

Plant Acupuncture: a low-cost and open-source device for local mechanical stimulation

This paper introduces an open-source, low-cost device for applying precise mechanical stimuli to plant cells, enabling studies of mechanobiology.

Myosin-X sorts actin filaments into parallel bundles and tunes barbed-end dynamics

This study shows myosin-X can bundle actin filaments and regulate barbed-end dynamics, suggesting it can initiate filopodia without passive crosslinkers.

Emergence of curvature-dependent tissue growth from cell crowding and mechanical interactions

This study develops a mathematical model to show how curvature-dependent tissue growth arises from cell crowding and mechanical interactions, predicting pore closure scaling with size and shape.

The Tensile Expansion Microscopy (TExM) cell stretcher: an iris expansion device integrated with automated real-time autofocus and tracking to super-resolve cells

The paper introduces a TExM cell stretcher that applies isotropic equibiaxial force to achieve 1664% aerial strain for super-resolution imaging, with automated autofocus and tracking.

Substrate heterogeneity promotes cancer cell dissemination through interface roughening

This study shows that substrate disorder promotes single-cell cancer invasion, comparable to cadherin loss, by altering invasion dynamics through spatial heterogeneity.

Prepatterned Tissue Stiffness Gradient Controls Organ shape and size

This study shows how prepatterned tissue stiffness gradients control organ shape and size through mechanosensing and Wnt5a signaling in sweat glands.

A phase field model with stochastic input simulates cellular gradient sensing, morphodynamics, and fidelity of haptotaxis

The paper develops a phase field model to simulate haptotaxis, showing how directional persistence compensates for reduced gradient bias and maintains response robustness in multi-cue environments.

Cell Geometry and Junction Arrangement Define the Mechanical Robustness of Plant Tissues

This study identifies three-way junctions as flexible hinges and four-way junctions as stiffer elements in plant tissues, revealing how cell geometry influences mechanical resilience.

BetaII-Spectrin Gaps and Patches Emerge from the Patterned Assembly of the Actin/Spectrin Membrane Skeleton in Human Motor Neuron Axons

The paper uses imaging to study the spatial distribution of betaII-spectrin in human motor neuron axons, revealing a gap-and-patch pattern in the actin/spectrin membrane skeleton.

Myosin II independent contraction of actin filaments in membrane nanotubes

The paper investigates actin filament contraction in membrane nanotubes, finding that cyclic load-fail behavior occurs independently of myosin II and is explained by ADF/cofilin-induced stress.

Softer when Thicker: a Conserved Scaling Law Governs Actin Cortex Mechanics

The paper measures actin cortex thickness and elasticity in live cells, finding a universal scaling law (E ~ h-2) that depends on actin filament volume fraction.

Flow-driven lumen remodeling and valve opening in the vas deferens

The paper investigates how mechanical signaling coordinates luminal flow and structural changes in the mouse vas deferens during ejaculation-like events.

Surface Tension and Stalk Elongation Drive Dictyostelium Morphogenesis

This study identifies surface tension and stalk elongation as key mechanical drivers of fruiting body formation in Dictyostelium discoideum using a hydrodynamic model and experimental measurements.

Actin and myosin dynamics during epithelial remodeling in avian gastrulation

This study investigates actin and myosin dynamics during epithelial remodeling in avian gastrulation, showing that junctional myosin contraction drives cell rearrangements and primitive streak formation.

E-cadherin-mediated neighborhood surveillance dictates pre-malignant outcomes

The paper shows E-cadherin redistribution creates tension heterogeneity, triggering cell competition that eliminates pre-malignant cells, but this system can fail, leading to tumor susceptibility.

Adaptive motility enables neutrophils to rapidly navigate confined capillaries

This study shows neutrophils maintain high migration speed in capillaries of varying sizes by adapting their actomyosin cytoskeleton via the ROCK-MyoII pathway, preventing vascular obstruction.

The filopodial scaffold polyphosphate dictates cell adhesion-versus-invasion decisions

This study identifies polyphosphate as a structural component of filopodia that regulates cell adhesion and invasion, with implications for tumor suppression.

Morphological parameters can capture emergent properties of dynamic disordered cytoskeletal networks

The paper uses morphological descriptors to classify dynamic disordered cytoskeletal networks and finds that no single descriptor can fully capture differences in simulated trajectories.

Oncogene-Mechanics Axis: KRAS G12C Confers Agility Enabling Malignant Mechano-responses to Peristalsis in Colorectal Cancer

This study shows that KRAS G12C mutations in colorectal cancer cells enhance mechanical agility, enabling them to respond to peristalsis by enriching LGR5+ cancer stem cells, which promotes malignant progression.

Geometry-Encoded Microtrenches Stabilize Endothelium on High Shear Biomaterial Surfaces

This paper demonstrates that engineered microtrench geometries on biomaterial surfaces reduce shear stress and enhance endothelial cell retention and function under high shear conditions.

Rapid repurposing of microvillar content drives a flagellate-to-amoeboid switch in the closest relative of animals

This study identifies rapid cytoskeletal remodeling in choanoflagellates during a flagellate-to-amoeboid switch, driven by microvillar retraction and actin cortex formation.

Local mechanical heterogeneity drives epidermal cell delamination

This study identifies local mechanical heterogeneity as the driver of epidermal cell delamination through force balance changes and actomyosin remodeling in keratinocytes.

Programmable Antibody-DNA Conjugation via HUH-Tags Enables Quantitative Measurement of Receptor-Specific Adhesion Dynamics

This paper introduces programmable antibody-DNA conjugation methods using HUH-tags to enable quantitative measurement of receptor-specific adhesion dynamics in cancer cells and NK cells.

Elevated hydrostatic pressure modulates endothelial junctional mechanotransduction through VE-cadherin remodelling and altered association with YAP1, EPS8: an endothelium-on-chip study

This study investigates how elevated hydrostatic pressure affects endothelial junctions using an endothelium-on-chip model, revealing changes in VE-cadherin structure, YAP1 localization, and EPS8 interactions.

Intrafilament nucleotide exchange in a prokaryotic actin homolog

This study reveals that MreB filaments in Bacillus subtilis renew their nucleotide state through intrafilament exchange without subunit turnover, linking filament stability to the surrounding nucleotide pool.