Physical stimuli are essential for the function of eukaryotic cells, and changes in physical
signals are important elements in normal tissue development as well as in disease initiation …

Cutaneous wound healing in adult mammals is a complex multi-step process involving
overlap** stages of blood clot formation, inflammation, re-epithelialization, granulation …

How cells sense tissue stiffness to guide cell migration is a fundamental question in
development, fibrosis and cancer. Although durotaxis—cell migration towards increasing …

Hydrogels are highly water-swollen molecular networks that are ideal platforms to create
tissue mimetics owing to their vast and tunable properties. As such, hydrogels are promising …

Cells exert, sense, and respond to physical forces through an astounding diversity of
mechanisms. Here we review recently developed tools to quantify the forces generated by …

Cell function depends on tissue rigidity, which cells probe by applying and transmitting
forces to their extracellular matrix, and then transducing them into biochemical signals. Here …

Silk fibroin (SF) is a fibrous protein which is produced mainly by silkworms and spiders. Its
unique mechanical properties, tunable biodegradation rate and the ability to support the …

Chemical and physical properties of the environment control cell proliferation, differentiation,
or apoptosis in the long term. However, to be able to move and migrate through a complex …

Leukocytes can completely reorganize their cytoskeletal architecture within minutes. This
structural plasticity, which facilitates their migration and communicative function, also …

Metastasis causes most cancer-related deaths; however, the efficacy of anti-metastatic drugs
is limited by incomplete understanding of the biological mechanisms that drive metastasis …