Micromechanics of cellularized biopolymer networks

Abstract

Mechanical interactions between cells, mediated by the elastic response of the extracellular matrix to active applied forces, play a critical role in developmental biology, wound healing, and cancer progression. This work applies sophisticated technical means, both in experiment and computational modeling, to investigate the micron-scale mechanics of a popular model of this medium, a collagen gel. The results obtained show clearly that on the cellular scale, there are significant spatial variations in the micromechanics due to network heterogeneities.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Aug 31, 2015
Source ID
10.1073/pnas.1509663112

Entities

People

  • Bo Sun
  • Christopher A. R. Jones
  • David H. Mcintyre
  • Emma A. Krnacik
  • Herbert Levine
  • Jingchen Feng
  • Matthew Cibula

Organizations

  • National Science Foundation
  • Office of Naval Research
  • Oregon State University
  • Rice University

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Biology
  • Physics

Readers

  • Computational Modeling and Simulation
  • Molecular Biology and Genetics
  • Nanocomposite Materials Science