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Symposium PP: Manipulating Cellular Microenvironments

• 2012 MRS Spring Meeting & Exhibit

• April 9 - April 13, 2012
• Moscone West Convention Center | Marriott Marquis - San Francisco, California-
• Meeting Chairs: Lara A. Estroff, Jun Liu, Kornelius Nielsch, Kazumi Wada

Manipulating Cellular Microenvironments

The microenvironment plays a crucial role in normal development by guiding stem-cell fate and tissue organization, but also contributes to pathological processes such as tumor progression and metastasis.  The enormous complexity of the cellular microenvironment, which consists of a variety of cells, soluble and insoluble signals, and extracellular matrix components, confounds strategies aimed at harnessing the power of stem cells to replace damaged or diseased tissue or preventing the devastating effects of cancer.  Therefore, there is tremendous opportunity for materials scientists and engineers to develop new tools for systematically manipulating specific components of the microenvironment in order to advance biological understanding and guide new therapeutic strategies.

This symposium will highlight engineering strategies for determining how the microenvironment influences cell behavior and approaches for controlling cell function.  Specific topics will include the development of engineered extracellular matrix mimics and 3D-cell-culture models, microfluidic approaches for studying biological systems, screening approaches aimed at deconstructing biological complexity, and specific strategies aimed at understanding cancer and stem-cell biology.  These examples will demonstrate how engineering principles are well suited for advancing our understanding of biology and the power of interdisciplinary research for tackling complex biological systems. 

Session topics will include:

• 3D biological microenvironments for studying cancer biology and stem cells
• Synthetic materials for mimicking extracellular matrix
• Engineering materials as well-defined 3D-cell-culture environments
• Microfluidic approaches for controlling microenvironments
• Screening approaches for deconstructing the complexity of the microenvironment
• Quantitative measurements and modeling of microenvironments and cellular processes

Invited speakers include:

Kristi Anseth (Univ. of Colorado, Boulder), Rashid Bashir (Univ. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign), Danielle Benoit (Univ. of Rochester), Sangeeta Bhatia (Massachusetts Inst. of Technology), Mina Bissell (Lawrence Berkeley National Lab), Karen Christman (Univ. of California, San Diego), Jennifer Elisseeff (Johns Hopkins Univ.), Andrés García (Georgia Inst. of Technology), Mariah Hahn (Texas A&M Univ.), Sarah Heilshorn (Stanford Univ.), Hang Lu (Georgia Inst. of Technology), Kristyn Masters (Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison), Glenn Prestwich  (Univ. of Utah), Shyni Varghese (Univ. of California, San Diego), Fan Yang (Stanford Univ.), Muhammad Zaman (Boston Univ.).

Symposium Organizers

Michael Schwartz
University of Wisconsin-Madison
5024 WIMR
1111 Highland Ave.
Madison, WI 53705
Tel 608-265-5933
mpschwartz@wisc.edu 

Todd C. McDevitt
Georgia Institute of Technology
Wallace H. Coulter Dept. of Biomedical Engineering
Atlanta, GA 30332-0535
Tel 404-385-6647
todd.mcdevitt@bme.gatech.edu 

Matthias P. Lutolf
EPFL-SV-IBI-LSCB
Stn. 15, Bldg. AI 1109
CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
Tel 41-21-693-1876
matthias.lutolf@epfl.ch  

Joel P. Schneider
National Cancer Institute-Frederick
Bldg. 376, Rm. 104
1050 Boyles St.
Frederick, MD 21702
Tel 301-846-5954
joel.schneider@nih.gov