Professor Jean-Jacques Meister has retired and the Laboratory has ceased all activities in August 2015.

 

 

News – Events

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IPSB – LCB  – Friday 3rd July 2015  Soutenance de thèse publique – Thesis Public Defense

Congratulations to Dr. Céline Jeanne Labouesse who has presented successfully her public defense of her PhD thesis entitled:
“ Mechanical properties of stress fibers in cells spreading on patterned substrates”
Director: Prof. Jean-Jacques Meister

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New publication in Biophysical Journal entitled Cell shape dynamics reveal balance of elasticity and contractility in peripheral arcs

 

Summary of Research

The experimental and theoretical aspects of three major areas of biophysics are studied in a transdisciplinary way by the physicists and biologists of the laboratory:

Calcium Dynamics:
Muscular arteries and arterioles undergo rhythmic or chaotic diameter variations which appear to be uncorrelated with external influences like heartbeat, respiratory cycles or blood flow. This phenomenon, called vasomotion, is due to the coordinated contraction and relaxation of a population of smooth muscle cells present in the arterial wall. The contractile state of smooth muscle cells is regulated by their cytosolic calcium concentration and can be synchronous over a significant distance along the vessel or propagate as a wave. We investigate the fundamental mechanisms of vasomotion and we are particularly interested in measuring and modeling the intercellular calcium dynamics, the recruitment and synchronization of a population of cells through gap junctions as well as the propagation of calcium waves.

Cell Motility:
Cell motility is essential for many physiological and pathological processes such as immune response, wound healing, and cancer metastasis. Motility is ultimately a mechanical phenomenon based on a dynamic system of intracellular fibers, the cytoskeleton, and thus this area of research is on the interphase of biology and physics. We combine experimental and theoretical approaches (GFP-probing, motion tracking, micromanipulation, modeling) in order to understand cell motility as an integrated physical phenomenon.

Cell Shape and Forces:
Cell adhesion to the extracellular matrix proteins or to the neighbouring cells is a fundamental biological phenomenon that is involved in stem cells differentiation, wound healing and numerous pathologies. Using innovative geometrical adhesive microfabricated substrates, we investigate the biological processes involved in cell mechanotransduction. The aims are to better understand how the actomyosin cytoskeleton forming actin gel, stress fibers and membrane protrusions work, quantify physical properties and focus which biological and mechanical factors are relevant.