Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS
Content archived on 2024-06-18

Actin-membrane interaction in biomimetic and living cellular systems studied with a novel, high precision optical method

Objective

The lethal potential of cancer is due to abnormal cell division and aggressive metastatic activity that turn resting cancer cells into motile structures which spread through an organism, resulting in numerous and often uncontrollably growing subpopulations. It is well known that both cell motility and cell division depend crucially on cell mechanics, namely on actin cortex. The actin cortex consists of a dense biopolymer network, steadily contracted by myosin motors. A key to understanding the abnormal motility and proliferation of cancer cells is the investigation and quantification of the physical properties of the actin cortex. Of special interest is the activity of the acto-myosin network and its interaction with the plasma membrane. This actin-membrane interplay is a major contributor to many physical properties of the whole cell. We propose a systematic study of acto-myosin membrane interactions using biomimetic and living cells in combination with a novel optical method that allows simultaneous manipulation and detection of the cell edge with high spatial and temporal resolution. Our main objectives are: a) to quantify the physics of the actin cortex in biomimetic cells; b) to understand the nonequilibrium statistical mechanics of active acto-myosin networks; c) to study of actin-membrane interactions in the cell cortex and the lamellipodium of living cells. The applicant and the host institute provide complementary skills for this project. The applicant has expertise in advanced optical detection methods, cell motility and stochastic processes, and the host institute will provide the biomimetic actin cortex system, expertise on biomimetics, active systems and biology and the interdisciplinary working environment, including biologists and biochemists, necessary for this project. In this respect both the applicant and the host institution will benefit from the fellowship.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Keywords

Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

FP7-PEOPLE-2007-2-1-IEF
See other projects for this call

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

MC-IEF - Intra-European Fellowships (IEF)

Coordinator

INSTITUT CURIE
EU contribution
€ 171 033,90
Address
RUE D ULM 26
75231 Paris
France

See on map

Region
Ile-de-France Ile-de-France Paris
Activity type
Research Organisations
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

No data
My booklet 0 0