Mechanobiology explores how physical forces affect cellular processes, providing insights into areas like embryogenesis and tumor growth. Cells exert forces onto their environment; the tissue in which they live. These tissues are not purely elastic. In fact, they resist deformation immediately but also relax stress over time, which is influences cell behaviour. And, although this phenomenon called viscoelasticity is increasingly acknowledged, its effects on cell behaviour remain poorly understood.
The objective of this project is to uncover mechanisms of the response cells have when interacting with a viscoelastic substrate. For that we envisioned integrating: (i) polyacrylamide substrates with tuneable stiffness and defined relaxation behaviour, (ii) experiments on living cells to quantify and compare dynamic responses across these mechanical conditions, and (iii) computational modelling and inference tools that connect measured dynamics to interpretable mechanistic descriptions of the cells.
The research presented addresses a biomedical need: mechanical changes in tissues are a hallmark of major health issues, such as mentioned (cancer, fibrosis etc). By improving how viscoelasticity is engineered, measured and interpreted in cell culture, the project contributes to more physiologically relevant and reproducible mechanobiology assays, supporting better experimental models for studying disease-relevant cell states and therapies.