Mechanical Regulation of Epithelial Cell Collective Migration
Contributors: Brugge, Joan S.; Shah, Jagesh V.; Toker, Alex; Lauffenburger, Douglas A.
Published: 2012
Language: eng
Description: Cell migration is a fundamental biological process involved in tissue development, wound repair, and diseases such as cancer metastasis. It is a biomechanical process involving the adhesion of a cell to a substratum, usually an elastic extracellular matrix, as well as the physical contraction of the cell driven by intracellular actomyosin network. In the migration of cells as a group, known as collective migration, the cells are also physically linked to one another through cell-cell adhesions. How mechanical interactions with cell substratum and with neighboring cells regulate movements during collective migration, nevertheless, is poorly understood.
Notes: Keywords: cell-cell coordination, cell tracking, epithelial sheet, mechanotransduction, stiffness, traction force.

Thesis Ph.D. Harvard University 2012