Elasticity, cell interactions and tissue repair

Speaker: Professor Tony Weiss

Time: 12:00p–1:00p

Location: 1-131

CEE Mechanics Seminar

Elastin facilitates the reversible deformation of elastic tissues and can withstand decades of repetitive forces. Elastin is made by assembling tropoelastin. Tropoelastin has a defined 3D shape that exquisitely balances multiple roles, including tissue elasticity, organized assembly and cell interactions. We found that tropoelastin's extensional elasticity can be utilized to expand undifferentiated cells, including progenitors and mouse hemopoietic stem cells. Mechanotransduction is facilitated through the actin-myosin cytoskeleton. An elastic circuitry extends continuously from the extracellular tropoelastin to deep inside the cell, involving elastic communication from the tropoelastin extracellular environment though intracellular myosin II to the nucleus. We found distinct regions of the molecule that are responsible for elasticity and cell binding. Also, we identified a specific non-canonical, integrin-binding motif at the tip of the human protein that dominates interactions with a variety of human cells. Additionally, in a series of recent papers we decoded the shape of the cell-binding and elastic regions and manipulated their connecting bridge through novel molecules that manifest sophisticated effects on cellular and macro scales. We are using, adapting and modifying these specific interactions to generate functional elastic scaffolds that promote, calibrate and coordinate zipcodes for cell attachment and proliferation in 3D.

Open to: the general public

Sponsor(s): Civil and Environmental Engineering

For more information, contact:
Markus Buehler
2-2750
mbuehler@mit.edu

This event is categorized as: science/engineering