Cell Mechanobiology - 1st & 2nd of April 2015 - A Workshop

I was fortunate enough to attended a workshop on "Cell Mechanobiology" organised by Rene de Borst, which took place April 1st and 2nd, with support by the Royal Society at Chicheley Hall.

This meeting was set out to bring together experimentalists, and experts in modelling to investigate how to develop a joined up language, projects and start collaborations.

Links to sketchnotes and short descriptions of the individual talks are below the titles.

 Workshop on Cell Mechanobiology

• Each slot consisted of a 30 minute presentation plus a 5 minute discussion

• After each pair there was a 15 minute general discussion

Day 1

Moderator: René de Borst

Opening and introduction

First pair of talks:

Elliot Meyerowitz “Mechanical control of plant stem cells”
http://bio-mat-sketches-mor.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/elliot-meyerowitz-mechanical-control-of.html

Henrik Jönsson “Gene regulatory and mechanical feedback interactions in plant stem cell maintenance”
http://bio-mat-sketches-mor.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/henrik-jonsson-gene-regulatory-networks.html

Second pair of talks:

Evelyn Yim “Topographical regulations on cell behaviours for tissue engineering applications”
http://bio-mat-sketches-mor.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/evelyn-yim-topography-tissue-engineering.html

Mathis Riehle “Mechanical issues in neural tissue repair”

Third pair of talks:

Joachim Spatz “Geometrical and mechanical cues guide collective cell migration”
http://bio-mat-sketches-mor.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/joachim-spatz-geometrical-and.html

Vikram Deshpande “Bio-chemomechanical models for cell contractility and focal adhesion”
http://bio-mat-sketches-mor.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/vikram-deshpande-bio-chemomechanical.html

Moderator: Vikram Deshpande 

Fourth pair of talks:

Joe Swift “Nuclear Lamin-A scales with tissue stiffness and enhances matrix- directed differentiation”
http://bio-mat-sketches-mor.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/joe-swift-nuclear-lamin-scales-with.html

Martin Knight “Cell mechanics”

http://bio-mat-sketches-mor.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/martin-knight-cell-mechanics.html

Fifth pair of talks

Nikolaj Gadegaard “Cell motility on patterned substrates”
http://bio-mat-sketches-mor.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/nikolaj-gadegaard-cell-motility-on.html

Bob McMeeking “Mechano-sensitive feedback between intracellular signalling, focal adhesion development and stress-fibre contractility”
http://bio-mat-sketches-mor.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/bob-mcmeeking-mechano-sensitive.html

General discussion
That was very much omitted - instead wanderings in the park, looking at dinosaurs, having a lie down to catch up with jet-lag or e-mails, followed by dinner during & after which discussion ensued, and kept going for some until the wee hours. 

Day 2

Moderator: Mathis Riehle

Sixth pair of talks:

Don Ingber “Mechanobiology and developmental control”
http://bio-mat-sketches-mor.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/donald-ingber-mechanobiology-and.html

Patrick McGarry “On the active and passive response of cells to static and dynamic loading”
http://bio-mat-sketches-mor.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/patrick-mcgarry-on-active-and-passive.html

Moderator: Nikolaj Gadegaard

Seventh pair of talks:

Prabhas Moghe “Parsing cellular fate-switching mechanotriggers using high content imaging”
http://bio-mat-sketches-mor.blogspot.com/2015/04/prabhas-moghe-parsing-cellular-fate.html

Kris van der Zee “Thermodynamically consistent models and energy-stable schemes for tumor growth”
http://bio-mat-sketches-mor.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/kris-van-der-zee-thermodynamically.html

Eighth pair of talks:

Matthew Dalby “Mechanotransduction”
http://bio-mat-sketches-mor.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/matthew-dalby-mechanotransduction.html

Moderator: Bob McMeeking
General discussion: identification of ways forward

The general discussion centred on establishing ways forward to connect modelers with the basic and applied experimental biologists, trying to establish a common ground, and expectations. The "Language" was identified as much as a hurdle as the perceived disconnect of some models from the biological data underpinning it.

*The "steam locomotive" (middle) came about as apparently physics/engineering modelers were able to fully explain the workings of the steam engine in the 1970ies at which time they had kind of become obsolete in most places.

During the morning of the second day we got our picture taken...

From left to right:

Martin Knight, Patrick MacGarry, Rene de Borst, Norman ..., Matthew Dalby (back), Mathis Riehle, Vikram Deshpande (back), Evelyn Yim, Joe Swift (back), Don Ingber, Prabhas Moghe, Kris van der Zee, Nikolaj Gadegaard (back), Bob McMeekum, Elliot Meyrowitz,  and Henrik Jönsson.

Good bye...