Mechanobiology: A tense situation

Abstract

Cells and tissues can exert, sense, and respond to physical forces. For example, the mechanical environment plays a key role in determining the fate of stem cells, and softer tissues (e.g., lung) can have their behaviour altered by small changes in their environment. The importance of mechanical force resulted in an increase in the development of mathematical models that aim to shed some light onto what is physically happening in the tissue (or cell). In this talk, I will give some motivation to mechanical models of tissues and discuss how these can be applied to problems in tissue engineering. I will then walk through a couple of models that highlight how particular material properties can greatly impact tissue development and we end by underlining the importance of three-dimensional biophysical experiments.