Theoretical and experimental quantification of the role of diffusive chemogradients on neuritogenesis within three-dimensional collagen scaffolds.

A critical challenge to regenerating close mimics of native axonal pathways under chronic neurodegenerative disease or injury conditions is the inability to stimulate, sustain and steer neurite outgrowth over a long distance, until they reach their intended targets. Understanding neurite outgrowth necessitates quantitative determination of the role of molecular gradients on growth cone navigation under dynamic physiological conditions. High-fidelity biomimetic platforms are needed to computationally and experimentally acquire and analyze spatiotemporal molecular gradient evolution and the growth cone response across multiple conditions along this gradient pathway.

Fluid shear stress induces the clustering of heparan sulfate via mobility of glypican-1 in lipid rafts.

The endothelial glycocalyx plays important roles in mechanotransduction. We recently investigated the distribution and interaction of glycocalyx components on statically cultured endothelial cells. In the present study, we further explored the unknown organization of the glycocalyx during early exposure (first 30 min) to shear stress and tested the hypothesis that proteoglycans with glycosaminoglycans, which are localized in different lipid microdomains, respond distinctly to shear stress.

A microfluidic system with optical laser tweezers to study mechanotransduction and focal adhesion recruitment.

We present a new method to locally apply mechanical tensile and compressive force on single cells based on integration of a microfluidic device with an optical laser tweezers. This system can locate a single cell within customized wells exposing a square-like membrane segment to a functionalized bead. Beads are coated with extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins of interest (e.