cell mechanics

The 2009 Joint ASCE-ASME-SES Conference on Mechanics and Materials, June 24-27, 2009 · Blacksburg, VA

Materiomics - materials science of biological protein materials 

As the most rigid cytoskeletal filaments, microtubules bear compressive forces in living cells, balancing the tensile forces within the cytoskeleton to maintain the cell shape. It is often observed that, in living cells, microtubules under compression severely buckle into short wavelengths. By contrast, when compressed, isolated microtubules in vitro buckle into single long-wavelength arcs. The critical buckling force of the microtubules in vitro is two orders of magnitude lower than that of the microtubules in living cells.

In order to achieve a wide variety of biological phenomena, the abilities of cells to contact effectively and interact specifically with neighboring media play a central role. It is known that cells can sense the chemical and mechanical properties of surrounding systems and regulate their adhesion and movement through binding protein molecules within cell membrane. The kinetics of binding molecules interacting with ligands is of great interest in biophysical society. There are lots of discussions and contributions on cell mechanics from our mechanical society, e.g.

Full support is available for 2 PhD students in cellular mechanics group in Biomedical Engineering Department at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.  

The applicants should have mechanics, materials or soft matter physics background, with some experimental experience at micro-scales.  Experience with any of the following is considered a
plus: computational mechanics, cell/tissue culture, microscopy, image analysis, photonics.