Mechanical Engineering of Wet-materials (MEOW) Laboratory

We are very happy to announce that Matt’s review paper “How sticky? How Tight? How Hot? Imaging probes for fluid viscosity, membrane tension and temperature measurements at the cellular level” is published in The International Journal of Biochemistry & Cell Biology. In the paper we review the progress made in imaging probes for three important physical parameters: viscosity, membrane tension, and temperature, all of which play important roles in many cellular processes. We discuss the techniques implementing imaging-based probes to measure viscosity, membrane tension, and temperature at subcellular resolution dynamically. The merits and shortcomings of each technique are examined, and the future applications of the recently developed techniques are also explored. We thank Dr. Tony Kanchanawong’s invitation for this opportunity to write a review paper on this underexplored topic. Congratulations to Matt, the leading author and our wonderful second author/illustrator at large Abdulla!

Jen’s review paper “Mechanical regulation of signal transduction in angiogenesis” is accepted and published at Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology. We review how variation in the mechanical microenvironment can modulate the angiogenesis process. Jen combed through the literatures and presented an integrated view on how mechanical perturbations, such as stretching and fluid shearing, alter angiogenesis-related signal transduction and gene expression. Congratulations to this comprehensive work, Jen! Shahad contributed to the signal transduction session and the illustration. Good job Shahad!