Confinement Mechanobiology Lab at MBI

🚨 New preprint alert! 🚨 Our paper “Mechanical Memory Primes Cells for Confined Migration” is now live on @biorxivpreprint 👉biorxiv.org/content/10.110… We uncover how cells "remember" past stiffness environments and use this memory to navigate #confinement. #mechanobiology

Join us at @MBIsg!

Just a few days to submit for the Sep 9-12 @MBIsg conference! Cool feature this year- a #HawkerCentre night with speakers and ECRs. Imagine enjoying Char Kway Teow & chatting #microtubules with someone like Sasha Bershadsky! Register here: mbi.nus.edu.sg/events/mbiconf…

Very cool finding🧩: It doesn’t matter if a cancer cell is more or less deformable, it still makes similar choices when navigating #confinement. @gijsjekoenderi1 team shows that “squeezability” alone doesn’t explain how cells pick their path!

How do cells 'feel' confinement? New research reveals how mechanical confinement compresses the #nucleus, triggering immobile cells to spread and migrate. -YJ sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

Surprise! 🤯Acute #chromatin decompaction stiffens nuclei (not softens!) via swelling & #lamin changes. Nanopillars reveal this time-dependent effect. Metastatic cells dodge stiffening by compacting chromatin—key for #confinedmigration. -NL biorxiv.org/content/10.110…

Fascinating in vivo tracking of collective cell migration under confinement @PNASNews! Reveals self-organized antiparallel streams and compressive ECM deformation. Now wondering: How do single cells navigate these complex microenvironments? 🤔 -LY #supplementary-materials" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">www-pnas-org.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/doi/10.1073/pn…

Tumbling=better #StemCell differentiation? A @NatureMaterials study by @AyushmanManish et al showed ‘cell tumbling’ under #confinement in sliding hydrogels enhances cartilage formation by impacting nuclear #mechanotransduction & chromatin accessibility-SS nature.com/articles/s4156…

It's always fascinating to observe cell migration in #confinement in vivo! This study from @SZapperi and @CAMLaPorta et al used intravital multiphoton microscopy to uncover a multicellular, low-cohesion mode of HT1080 collective migration-GX doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2…

An exciting study from the @KKLabJHU lab reveals that extracellular fluid viscosity alone can drive adipogenic-to-osteogenic stem cell transition, even under adipogenic-favoured conditions. A promising step for the future of #StemCellTherapy ! -YJ science.org/doi/full/10.11…

Check out our latest review! We dive into the physical environment of primordial germ cells and explore the role of #confinement and mechanics in guiding their journey to a #germline fate. Stay tuned for more on germ cell #mechanobiology! journals.physiology.org/doi/abs/10.115…

Excellent study by the @Marta_Shahbazi lab! Physical separation of epiblast cells from the basement membrane enables germ cell specification by releasing an integrin-mediated block. Great example of physical cues guiding #pluripotent cell fate! -MC science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…

All good things must come to an end! Signing off on the last day of WBC2024. Cheers to all the amazing scientific talks and beautiful connections. Thank you everyone for making this a great experience. Special thanks to @YuSukChoi, @nano_jenn, Hwang lab, @shin_shinpark - RH,MK,SS

Congratulations to Yeji from @ConfinementLab for the best poster award at the @2024Wbc. She is exploring the activation of fibroblasts as a function of confined migration. You go girl !! - RH & MK #Biomaterials #WBC2024

Awesome talk by @SamuelJMaher from the Cell Mechanobiology Choi Lab @YuSukChoi on using the gradient hydrogel system to understand the role of volume adaptation in regulating stem cell function. - RM & MK @2024Wbc #Biomaterial #mechanobiology

Amazing work by Prof Kristopher Kilian @KrisKilian @UNSW on cancer shapeoids using hydrogel microstructures of varying stiffness and geometry @2024Wbc - MK & RH #biomaterials #WBC2024

Learning about the importance of scaffold design and long-term testing of heart valvular implants. Really inspired by the keynote speaker Dr. Carlijn Bouten @TUeindhoven. @2024Wbc - RH & MK #WBC2024 #biomaterials

Great keynote from @khademh at @TerasakiInst discussing the different applications of GelMA in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine at @2024Wbc. -MK & RH #biomaterials #WBC2024

True Regeneration is when we control inflammatory responses. Great talk by Prof.Milica @milicaruoft on using citric acid based polymers as 3D tissue velcros for reduction in invasiveness of surgeries. - RM & MK @2024Wbc #biomaterial

Welcome to the final day of @2024Wbc. The "Young"-sters @ranmadusha @MartinKiwanuka from the soft nano-biomaterials lab @nano_jenn at @MBIsg are taking over the @ConfinementLab channel. Stay tuned! -RH & MK #biomaterials #WBC2024