Research

The goal of our lab is to understand how the physical behaviors of living cells are regulated to guide cell adhesion, shape change and force generation. To support the mechanical behaviors of cells, proteins assembly into polymer networks that exploit the enzymatic activity of single proteins to form dynamic materials that can generate forces and support movements at the micron length scales. Elucidating a coherent physical framework to understand the mechanical properties of cellular materials will establish a physical understanding of the regulation of both healthy human physiology and diseased states. Moreover, biological materials provide numerous models of dynamic, responsive materials that reside far from thermal equilibrium. Thus, the central hypothesis guiding our research is by integrating the fields of condensed matter physics and cell biology, the resultant ideas will have a profound impact on both biology and physics. Current work in the lab can be broadly categorized into four main areas:

Force Transmission at Cell Adhesions
 Cellular Force Transmission

 

Self-Assembly and Biophysical Properties
of Actin Networks and Bundles

 

Jamming in Colloidal Suspensions

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