Substantial research over the past two decades has established that extracellular matrix
(ECM) elasticity, or stiffness, affects fundamental cellular processes, including spreading …

Acting as a bridge between the cytoskeleton of the cell and the extra cellular matrix (ECM),
the cell-ECM adhesions with integrins at their core, play a major role in cell signalling to …

In tissues, many cells are surrounded by and interact with a three-dimensional soft
extracellular matrix (ECM). Both the physical and biochemical properties of the ECM play a …

Hydrogels are commonly used as artificial extracellular matrices for 3D cell culture and for
tissue engineering. Viscoelastic hydrogels with tunable stress relaxation have recently been …

Type 1 diabetes therapies that afford tighter glycemic control in a more manageable and
painless manner for patients has remained a central focus of next-generation diabetes …

In tissues, cells reside in confining microenvironments, which may mechanically restrict the
ability of a cell to double in size as it prepares to divide. How confinement affects cell cycle …

Contact guidance can promote cell alignment and is thus widely employed in tissue
regeneration. In particular, skeletal muscle consists of long fibrous bundles of multinucleated …

Background Uncontrolled growth in solid breast cancer generates mechanical compression
that may drive the cancer cells into a more invasive phenotype, but little is known about how …

Although a promising progress has been recently accomplished in polymer science, cell
biology, immunology and biotechnology, the biocompatibility of biomaterials still remains a …

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most malignant and highly aggressive brain tumor. In this study,
four types of typical GBM cell lines (LN229, SNB19, U87, U251) were cultured in a …