Nudge Nudge

Just like a hand on the shoulder or a jab of an elbow can convey a message, physical interactions influence cell behaviour. Molecular machinery senses and transmits these mechanical cues in part through 3-dimensional networks built of individual fibres surrounding cells – the extracellular matrix. Investigating how forces are felt by cells is difficult in conventional studies on a flat surface, so researchers have developed a robotic platform that allows controlled adjustment of an artificial matrix (video, first flexing the network and then showing cells embedded on the structure aligning with the motion). This arena for poking and prodding cells to probe the details of how forces affect their function could help show how helpful nudges keep healthy cells on track, and what goes wrong when push becomes shove and unbalanced mechanical forces result from, or cause, disease and dysfunction.

Written by Anthony Lewis

Anthony Lewis

Writer

Ant was the web editor in the early days of BPoD, and has since worked with the UK’s top science organisations as a writer and multimedia producer. He now splits his time between freelance work and managing multimedia at The Lancet.

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• Videos from work by Fazil E. Uslu and colleagues
• Institute of Mechanical Engineering and Institute of Bioengineering, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
• Videos originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
• Published in Advanced Materials, August 2021