Liquid metals, with their unique combination of electrical and mechanical properties, offer
great opportunities for actuation based on surface tension modulation. Thanks to the scaling …

Adherent cells, crawling slugs, peeling paint, sessile liquid drops, bearings and many other
living and non-living systems apply forces to solid substrates. Traction force microscopy …

Adjusting the acrylamide monomer and cross-linker content in polyacrylamide gels controls
the hydrogel stiffness, yet the reported elastic modulus for the same formulations varies …

The ability of cells to adhere and sense differences in tissue stiffness is crucial for organ
development and function. The central mechanisms by which adherent cells detect …

In cancer, solid stresses impede the delivery of therapeutics to tumours and the trafficking
and tumour infiltration of immune cells. Understanding such consequences and the origin of …

Cellular forces generated by the actomyosin cytoskeleton and transmitted to the extracellular
matrix (ECM) through discrete, integrin-based protein assemblies, that is, focal adhesions …

Understanding how forces orchestrate tissue formation requires technologies to map
internal tissue stress at cellular length scales. Here, we develop ultrasoft mechanosensors …

In vitro cultures of endothelial cells are a widely used model system of the collective
behavior of endothelial cells during vasculogenesis and angiogenesis. When seeded in an …

RhoGTPases organize the actin cytoskeleton to generate diverse polarities, from front–back
polarity in migrating cells to dendritic spine morphology in neurons. For example, RhoA …

The effect of substrate stiffness on the cellular morphology, proliferation, and differentiation
of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) has been extensively researched and well …