SEMINAR: CMCA Seminar Series:"Hacking the Environment of Living Cells"

Living cells possess an exquisite ability to sense and respond to physical information in their microenvironment. This ability plays a key role in many fundamentally important physiological and pathological processes. I will describe our work utilizing a variety of strategies to use physical cues to guide and direct cell biology. These include exposing to mechanical stimuli, altering the geometric shape of the microenvironment and even growing mammalian cells inside of fruits and vegetables. Our work has demonstrated how physical cues can be employed to re-purpose and manipulate numerous biological processes. Examining the responses of cells to highly artificial physical cues that are unlikely to exist in vivo, reveal novel cellular behaviours. These responses to physical cues are not simply a side- product of biology but are key components of evolutionary biological and physical feedback loops that govern the life of a cell.