Abstract:

Cell monolayers line the surface of numerous organs and among the various types, epithelial cell monolayer is the most abundant. In normal physiology, these monolayers are subjected to various mechanical stresses. Recent evidence has shown that diseases such as cancer could lead to impaired mechanical integrity of cells and monolayers, causing tissue fragility. While such correlation between the mechanical functions of monolayer and diseases highlights the importance of monolayer mechanics, knowledge in this field remains limited. To combat difficulties in measuring and investigating monolayer mechanical properties, few approaches have been attempted. Nevertheless, there has been experimental and technical limitations caused by sensitive equipment, difficulty in replicating testing results, and questions on the physiological relevancy of the experimental setup. In this talk, I will present a testing platform based on the blister test to measure the mechanical properties of cell monolayers. In creating this platform, we hope to overcome the limitations of past studies such that outstanding issues like deformability fracture and adhesion of monolayers can be examined quantitatively. While our preliminary study focuses on epithelial monolayers, the setup can be extended to other types of monolayers and used in a wide range of biomedical investigations.

ALL INTERESTED ARE WELCOME