Geometry Plays an Important Role in How Cells Behave, Penn Researchers Report

Inspired by how geometry influences physical systems such as soft matter, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have revealed surprising insights into how the physics of molecules within a cell affect how the cell behaves.

The researchers focused on vascular smooth muscle cells, which are the types of cells that make up a large portion of large blood vessels in mammals. Scientists might expect the cell to try to avoid bending, however, the researchers found that on a cylindrical surface the cells actually form very bent skeletons. They also found that, by manipulating the skeleton of the cells, they could recapitulate the alignment pattern of the skeleton that they saw in vivo.

The research was led by Nathan Bade, a graduate student in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, working under the guidance of Kathleen Stebe, the Richer & Elizabeth Goodwin Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and deputy dean for research and innovation; Randall Kamien, the Vicki and William Abrams Professor in the Natural Sciences; and Richard K. Assoian, professor of pharmacology in Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine. Their paper was published in Science Advances.

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