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SUMMARY:Mechanical Signaling and Cell Fate
DTSTART:20171006T140000
DTEND:20171006T150000
DTSTAMP:20260916T003934Z
UID:857103a96c1ee7231c371312069413043d5c399cc1f0baa377bfbfbc
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Kevin J. Chalut\, Ph.D.\, Cambridge University\, Cambridge (UK
 )\nBIOENGINEERING SEMINAR\n\nAbstract:\nThe role of mechanical signaling i
 n cell fate choice has been largely overlooked\; however\, it plays a sign
 ificant role in tuning cellular response to signals. My lab is investigati
 ng the interplay between biochemical signaling and mechanical signaling in
  cell fate choice.\n\nI will show first in the mouse embryo that biochemic
 al signaling modulates cytoskeletal contractility to influence spatial pos
 itioning and solidify cell fate choice. I will then show that mechanics tu
 nes the response of the cell to biochemical signaling to steer fate choice
 . This hypothetical feedback loop between mechanics and biochemical signal
 ing likely has significant impact on cellular plasticity both in developme
 nt and stem cells.\n\nI will also present an example demonstrating the fun
 ctional impact of mechanics on stem cell function. In this example\, we ha
 ve shown that we can reverse the loss of plasticity associated with ageing
  by controlling the mechanical microenvironment.\n\nUltimately\, I will ad
 vance the hypothesis that mechanical sensing acts as a switch to modulate 
 growth factor signaling to modulate cell fate choice.\n\nBio:\nDr. Kevin C
 halut is a biophysicist with a PhD in Physics from Duke University. Since 
 2011 he has been a Royal Society University Research Fellow. Kevin’s pos
 t-graduate background is in biotechnology and imaging\, particularly with 
 regards to detecting cancer and characterising stem cells. He is currently
  a group leader at both the Cavendish Laboratory and the Wellcome Trust-Me
 dical Research Council Stem Cell Institute.\n\nHis work focuses on develop
 ing novel biotechnology to investigate physical states of cells such as me
 chanics and subcellular structure\; in the last few years he has focused a
 lmost exclusively on the biophysics of embryos and embryonic stem cells. T
 he ultimate goal of his laboratory is to discover physical mechanisms and 
 their importance to pluripotency\, differentiation and reprogramming.
LOCATION:SV 1717 https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==SV%201717
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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