MechE Colloquium: Mechanobiology of Wound Healing

Abstract: 
In the dynamic environments of tissues, mechanical forces play a crucial role in shaping cell behavior and function. Our research aims to decode and control the mechanisms by which cells perceive, store, and respond to these mechanical cues, a process known as mechanotransduction. By integrating experiment with multiscale computational modeling, we are developing a predictive understanding of how cells and their surrounding extracellular matrix interact and adapt recursively to mechanical stimuli. Results show that mechanotransduction can be controlled to govern how cells respond to mechanical stress, with feedback loops between cells and matrix driving molecular and genetic switches. The talk will focus on our multiscale modeling approaches, linking subcellular, cellular, and tissue scale phenomena, and their application to regenerative medicine and wound healing applications.


Biography: 
Guy M. Genin applies fundamental concepts from engineering to control and probe living systems.  His work advances surgical techniques, molecular detection, and therapies for inflammation, wound healing, and fibrosis. Genin serves as the Harold and Kathleen Faught Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Washington University, with appointments in Biomedical Engineering and Neurological Surgery. Genin co-directs the NSF Science and Technology Center for Engineering Mechanobiology and serves on the U.S. Interagency Modeling and Analysis Group's steering committee and the Society of Engineering Science Board of Directors. A fellow of ASME, AIMBE, IAMBE, and the U.S. National Academy of Inventors, Genin is chief engineer of Caeli Vascular, Inc. At Xi'an Jiaotong University, he serves as Thousand Talents Plan Professor of Life Sciences, and at Tsinghua University he is Distinguished Visiting Professor. Additional disclosures are available upon request. He is currently an associate editor of Biophysical Journal. Genin is the recipient of awards including a Research Career Award from the NIH; the Changjiang Scholar Award from the Chinese Ministry of Education; the Eads Medal from the St. Louis Academy of Science; and the Skalak Award and Woo Medal from the ASME. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees from Case Western Reserve University and master's and doctoral degrees from Harvard, and completed postdoctoral training at Cambridge and Brown.