BIOPOL · Biochemical and mechanochemical mechanisms in polarized cells

Biochemical and mechanochemical mechanisms in polarized cells

BIOPOL is dedicated to the training of early stage researchers in the area of modern mechanobiology. Currently, it is still an open question how the physical environment is regulating cellular behaviour, moreover it is also largely unclear how the physical properties of cells contribute to cellular events like migration or tissue formation. For a long time the focus in molecular cell biology was preferentially on establishing protein/protein or protein/lipid interaction networks and signalling cascades, however it became clear that chemical signalling in the classical sense is insufficient to describe and mechanistically explain phenomena like tissue formation and cell differentiation and that the specific physical nature of the cellular environment as well as the intrinsic cellular physical properties have to be taken into account. A rational approach to treat human diseases is incomplete without including mechanobiological aspects. Thus it is crucial that we establish a clear understanding of the mechanical cues governing cellular behaviour to exploit this knowledge for novel strategies of disease treatment, and tissue engineering in the future. BIOPOL aims to understand how mechanical cues are recognised by the cell and how these signals are translated into biochemical signalling and vice versa. BIOPOL aims in particular to elucidate the role of the plasma membrane, the lipid membrane, which surrounds each cell, in sensing the environment. The plasma membrane also plays an important role in regulating selective uptake of cargo via a mechanism called endocytosis. BIOPOL investigates how the physical properties of the plasma membrane influences endocytosis. Furthermore, BIOPOL analyses the role of mechanochemical signalling in establishing and maintaining cellular asymmetries and how this is translated into tissue formation in vivo. Conclusions: Overall BIOPOL has provided state of the art training in the field of mechanobiology for 15 BIOPOL-fellows. Training was also widened to non-BIOPOL students by organising an open summer school on the topic of mechanobiology. In addition BIOPOL fellows have received significant transferable skill trainings in particular in the areas of scientific communication, entrepreneurship and career development. Extensive secondments of fellows between the consortium participants have led to fruitful scientific collaborations and several joint scientific publications are predicted to be the result. Scientific advances have been made in understanding mechanisms of cellular and molecular mechanosensing, and mechanotransductions. Furthermore, BIOPOL has performed a substantial number of outreach activities (over 30 events) helping to promote the significance of joint European research and the field of mechanobiology in particular.

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз