Abstract
Forces are ubiquitous in life, and they directly impact the physiological functions of the cells. Cells experience and exert physical forces by responding sensitively to these forces or by generating them for everyday biological functions in our body. For example, certain abnormalities in the physical properties of tissue microenvironment can provoke pathological conditions such as cancer, and the physical state of the cells can direct the metastatic fate in the tumor mass. To better appreciate the role of physical forces in pathophysiological responses of the cells, it is crucial to develop functionally relevant in vitro experimental models. We established both 2D and 3D cell-based experimental models to elucidate the mechanism of cancer metastasis. First, we employed 2D circular islands or strips to realize cancer metastasis, in a simplified yet controlled manner, to unravel the correlation between cellular kinematics and physical stresses. We first identified the vital factors that drive the formation of the cellular aggregates and quantified the physical forces that would prevent the dissemination of the cells from the aggregates.
We also developed spheroid-based 3D cancer models. Based on recent findings on the significance of collective migration in cancer invasion, we suggest cancer cell type-dependent strategies to form tumor models that correctly display the collective or dispersive invasion of cancer cells. For quantitative analyses, we utilized particle image velocimetry (PIV), traction force microscopy (TFM), and monolayer stress microscopy (MSM) along with conventional biochemical assays and other phenotyping tools, and identified the active remodeling of stresses during collective migration of the cells.
About the Speaker
Jennifer H. Shin is a professor in the Mechanical Engineering (ME) Department at KAIST. She received B.S.,
M.S., and Ph.D. in ME at MIT in 1998, 2000, and 2004, respectively. Dr. Shin’s research interests center around the emerging interdisciplinary mechanobiology. Her research focuses on finding links between cellular biomechanics and physiological changes associated with diseases in light of diagnostics and therapeutics. She has been an active board member for 7 academic societies across the fields of core mechanical engineering and biomedical engineering. She served an active organizing committee for many international conferences, including Biofabrication, microTAS, IBEC, ISPIV, and IEEE-EMBC, and is an elected member of the Executive Council of the International Society of Biomechanics (ISB). In particular, Dr. Shin has displayed genuine passion and enthusiasm for teaching students and was recognized with several teaching excellence awards both at the departmental and institutional levels. She received GASAN Academic Award from the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers in recognition of her contribution to Fluid Engineering Fields in 2018.
Host: Joon Kong, Mattia Gazzola
