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Graduate Seminar

11/20/2009

614 Schermerhorn
11 AM, Nov 20, 2009

DBME COLLOQUIUM

"Adhesion, Forces, and Cell Function"
 

Christopher S. Chen, M.D., Ph.D.
Skirkanich Professor of Innovation in Bioengineering
University of Pennsylvania

In vivo, local tissue structure defines the cellular environment, constraining how cells interact with surrounding extracellular matrix substrates, neighboring cells, soluble growth factors, and physical forces. These "microenvironmental" cues in turn regulate the behavior of individual cells, such as proliferation, differentiation, migration, and suicide. Here, we will discuss how adhesion between cells and their environment regulate cell function. Adhesion involves not only receptor binding, but also changes in cell shape and the generation of mechanical stresses at these adhesions. Using a variety of microengineering approaches, we explore the relative contributions of these different aspects of adhesion to regulating cell function. Our studies demonstrate that mechanical forces generated either internally by the cytoskeleton or externally regulate both cell-matrix and cell-cell adhesions, and in so doing, modulate signals that control cell function. These forces appear to be central to driving growth, multicellular patterning, and stem cell lineage commitment. We hope to use these results to develop a fundamental understanding of the role of mechanical forces in adhesion signaling and cell function.

Christopher S. Chen, M.D., Ph.D., Skirkanich Professor of Innovation in the University of Pennsylvania's Department of Bioengineering, is also a faculty member of the Cell Biology and Physiology Program as well as the Cell Growth and Cancer Program. He is director of the Tissue Microfabrication Laboratory and founding director of the Center for Engineering Cells and Regeneration.  Dr. Chen has been an instrumental figure in the development of engineered cellular microenvironments in order to engineer cell function.  The goal of Dr. Chen's research is to identify the underlying mechanisms by which cells interact with materials and each other to build tissues, and to apply this knowledge in the biology of stem cells, tissue vascularization, and cancer.  Dr. Chen has received numerous honors, including the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the Angiogenesis Foundation Fellowship, the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, the Mary Hulman George Award for Biomedical Research, and the Herbert W. Dickerman Award For Outstanding Contribution to Science.  He serves as a member of the Faculty of 1000 Biology, the Board of Trustees for the Society for BioMEMS and Biomedical Nanotechnology, Editor for BioInterphases and Molecular and Cellular Biomechanics, and member of the Defense Sciences Study Group. He received his A.B. in Biochemistry from Harvard, M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from M.I.T., and Ph.D. in Medical Engineering and Medical Physics from the Harvard-M.I.T. Health Sciences and Technology Program.  He earned his M.D. from the Harvard Medical School.  He was Assistant Professor in Biomedical Engineering and in Oncology at Johns Hopkins University prior to being appointed Associate Professor at Penn.

ET = DBME Conference room, Engineering Terrace

614SH = 614 Schermerhorn