As a major component of the human body, the extracellular matrix (ECM) is a complex
biopolymer network. The ECM not only hosts a plethora of biochemical interactions but also …

Living systems operate far from thermodynamic equilibrium. Enzymatic activity can induce
broken detailed balance at the molecular scale. This molecular scale breaking of detailed …

Animal cells in tissues are supported by biopolymer matrices, which typically exhibit highly
nonlinear mechanical properties. While the linear elasticity of the matrix can significantly …

Active biomaterials offer novel approaches to study mechanotransduction in mammalian
cells. These material systems probe cellular responses by dynamically modulating their …

Many cells are small and rounded on soft extracellular matrices (ECM), elongated on stiffer
ECMs, and flattened on hard ECMs. Cells also migrate up stiffness gradients (durotaxis) …

Single and collective cell migration are fundamental processes critical for physiological
phenomena ranging from embryonic development and immune response to wound healing …

We developed a multichannel wireless quartz-crystal-microbalance (QCM) biosensor for
mechanically studying the on-surface aggregation reaction of α-synuclein (α-syn). We find a …

The mechanical properties of the skin determine tissue function and regulate dermal cell
behavior. Yet measuring these properties remains challenging, as evidenced by the large …

Integrin-based adhesion complexes link the cytoskeleton to the extracellular matrix (ECM)
and are central to the construction of multicellular animal tissues. How biological function …

Nonlinear stiffening is a ubiquitous property of major types of biopolymers that make up the
extracellular matrices (ECM) including collagen, fibrin, and basement membrane. Within the …