Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Seminar Series: Ovijit Chaudhuri

Description

Ovijit Chaudhuri, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Stanford University, will give a talk titled "Extracellular Matrix Viscoelasticity and Its Impact on Cells" as part of the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Seminar Series.

Please attend the event on Zoom (meeting ID: 999 7571 3314 | passcode: 442921).

Abstract:

The extracellular matrix (ECM) is a complex assembly of structural proteins that provides physical support and biochemical signaling to cells in tissues. Over the last two decades, studies have revealed the important role that ECM elasticity plays in regulating a variety of biological processes in cells, including stem cell differentiation and cancer progression. However, tissues and ECM are often viscoelastic, displaying stress relaxation over time in response to a deformation, and viscoplastic, exhibiting irreversible deformations in response to mechanical stress. In this talk, I will discuss our recent findings on how matrix viscoelasticity regulates stem cell migration, the morphogenesis of pluripotent stem cells, cell division, and breast cancer progression.