Cell-ebrating our cells

How do the cells and tissues in our bodies establish and control their shapes, while at the same time withstanding large forces from their environment? Man-made materials tend to be either deformable or strong, but cells harness the power of squishy physics to be both. They use active soft materials like protein networks, which can be built and modified on-demand to meet mechanical challenges. In this talk I will bring together living tissues and novel nanotechnology tools to shed light on the molecular mechanisms that shape our cells and tissues.

Under the microscope our bone marrow (where our blood cells are made) looks like a city - there is an architecture and an enormous diversity in the types of cells going about their business. We know that this architecture and cross-talk between these cells is crucial to how the bone marrow works - both in health and disease. But how do you capture that complexity in the laboratory? This talk focuses on an exciting new technique in blood cancer research that allows us to grow bone marrow 'organoids' in the laboratory, unlocking vital new avenues of research!