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      • Symposium A: Amorphous and Polycrystalline Thin-Film Silicon Science and Technology
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Symposium QQ: Mechanobiology of Cells and Materials

• 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

Mechanobiology of Cells and Materials

Virtually, every cell in the body is subjected to mechanical stimuli; and many respond to external force by altering their differentiation, development, structure, and fate.  Mechanobiology lies at the intersection of engineering and biophysics, and aims to understand how mechanical signals alter cell behavior, whether they result from material rigidity, strain resulting from external forces, or cell-generated contractility.  This symposium is the first of its kind at an MRS meeting, and envisioned to become a definitive, annual, international gathering for this field.  Because of the field’s inherently interdiscipli-nary nature, the symposium is expected to draw (bio)materials scientists, biomedical engineers, biophysicists, cell biologists, and biomechanical engineers.

The symposium will generally address materials design for studying mechanobiology of cells.  More specifically, one important aspect of this symposium will address the ways that cells sense force in a discussion on how cytoskeleton and adhesion sites can both transduce and produce force.  Integrins and other molecules known to sense mechanical force will also be discussed.  In addition, the changes to polarity, activation, and other characteristics of cells in response to force will be studied.

Abstracts about the effects of force on developing cells, primary cells, and diseased cells are encouraged.  The other important aspect of this symposium will address the ways by which forces are provided to cells, namely in the mechanics of the extracellular matrix (ECM) and of biologically inspired artificial matrices and their capabilities to influence signaling and alter cell behavior.  These model systems could be used to help identify mechanobiological mechanisms used by cells, and control the effects of these mechanisms in tissue-engineering and biomaterials-related applications.

This symposium will aim to communicate major recent advances from this diverse field, highlight exciting new avenues of investigation and newly developed methodologies, and stimulate active discussion among participants from different disciplines. 

Topics to be addressed will include (but will not be limited to):

• Platform/model systems for mechanobiology research
• Mechanosensing and mechanosignaling
• Mechanobiology and disease
• Matrix assembly and remodeling
• Integrins: structure, activation, and signaling
• Adhesion site assembly and dynamics
• Cytoskeletal dynamics

A tutorial dedicated to Microscopy and Spectroscopy Techniques is tentatively planned.  Further information will be included in the MRS Program that will be available online in January.

Invited speakers include:

Platform/Model Systems for Mechanobiology Research: Sanjay Kumar (Univ. of California, Berkeley), Matthias Lutolf (EPFL, Switzerland), Beth Pruitt (Stanford Univ.), Mike Sheetz (National Univ. of Singapore/Columbia Univ.); Mechanosensing and Mechanosignaling: Don Ingber (Harvard Univ.), Martin Schwartz (Univ. of Virginia); Mechanobiology and Disease: Claudia Fischbach-Teschl (Cornell Univ.), Valerie Weaver (Univ. of California, San Francisco); Matrix Assembly and Remodeling: Corinne Albiges-Rizo (Univ. Joseph Fourier, France), Jean Schwarzbauer (Princeton Univ.); Adhesion and Integrins: Reinhard Faessler (Max Planck Inst. of Biochemistry, Germany), Benny Geiger (Weizmann Inst., Israel), Mark Ginsberg (Univ. of California, San Diego); Cytoskeletal Dynamics: Andre Levchenko (Johns Hopkins Univ.), Joaquim Spatz (Univ. of Heidelberg, Germany).

Symposium Organizers

Delphine Gourdon
Cornell University
Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering
327 Bard Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853
Tel 607-255-1623, Fax 607-255-2365
dg434@cornell.edu  

Manish Butte
Stanford University
Dept. of Pediatrics
300 Pasteur Dr.
Stanford, CA 94305
Tel 650-721-1324, Fax 650-498-6077
mjbutte@stanford.edu   

Michael Smith
Boston University
Dept. of Biomedical Engineering
44 Cummington St.
Boston, MA 02215
Tel 617-353-4365, Fax 617-353-6766
msmith@bu.edu  

Stefan Diez
Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics
Pfotenhauerstr. 108
D-01307 Dresden, Germany
Tel 49-351-210-2521, Fax 49-351-210-2020
diez@mpi-cbg.de