Actin filaments assemble into diverse protrusive and contractile structures to provide force
for a number of vital cellular processes. Stress fibers are contractile actomyosin bundles …

One of the most unique physical features of cell adhesion to external surfaces is the active
generation of mechanical force at the cell-material interface. This includes pulling forces …

To investigate how cells sense stiffness in settings structurally similar to native extracellular
matrices, we designed a synthetic fibrous material with tunable mechanics and user-defined …

Cell migration plays a major role in many fundamental biological processes, such as
morphogenesis, tumor metastasis, and wound healing. As they anchor and pull on their …

One of the major challenges in modern biology is to understand how the molecular
components of a living cell operate in a highly noisy environment. What are the specific …

Cell elongation and polarization are basic morphogenetic responses to extracellular matrix
adhesion. We demonstrate here that human cultured fibroblasts readily polarize when …

Matrix rigidity sensing regulates a large variety of cellular processes and has important
implications for tissue development and disease. However, how cells probe matrix rigidity …

Many essential cellular functions in health and disease are closely linked to the ability of
cells to respond to mechanical forces. In the context of cell adhesion to the extracellular …

The directed migration of cellular clusters enables morphogenesis, wound healing and
collective cancer invasion. Gradients of substrate stiffness direct the migration of cellular …

Bacterial biofilms represent a basic form of multicellular organization that confers survival
advantages to constituent cells. The sequential stages of cell ordering during biofilm …