Microfluidics in Cell Biology Part B

Matthieu Piel and his team develop microfabricated and microfluidic tools to quantitatively control the physical parameters of the cell's environment and study how cells grow, divide and migrate. The team focused on how physical confinement, geometry and forces affect cell division and cell migration. The general aim of these studies is to draw a line between the physics of the active matter cells are made of and the behavior of cells in the complex environment of tissues, in the context of the immune response and tumor development. Junsang Doh is an associate professor of Mechanical Engineering/Interdisciplinary Bioscience and Bioengineering (I-Bio) in POSTECH, South Korea. Prof. Doh's group develops and utilizes engineering tools such as microfabrication/imaging/mechanics to study fundamental aspects of immune cell behaviors, including synapse-based cell-cell interactions and motility under complex microenvironments, in the context of cancer immunotherapy. Dr. Fletcher and his team develops diagnostic technologies and studies mechanical regulation of membrane and cytoskeleton organization in the context of cell motility, signaling, and host-pathogen interactions. His lab specialize in development of optical microscopy, force microscopy, and microfluidic technologies to understand fundamental organizational principles through both in vitro reconstitution and live cell experiments. Recent work includes investigating the mechano-biochemistry of branched actin network assembly with force microscopy, studying membrane deformation by protein crowding and oligomerization with model membranes, and reconstituting spindle scaling in encapsulated cytoplasmic extracts. The long-term goal of his work is to understand and harness spatial organization for therapeutic applications in cancer and infectious diseases.