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In this talk, Professor Yuan Lin will introduce their recent efforts in elucidating the role of mechanics/physics in different cellular and tissue-level processes. First, he will demonstrate that mechano-transduction via intercellular integrin complexes between the invading spheroid leader cell and mesothelial cells triggers and augments mesothelium apical constriction, which then leads to the shrinkage of mesothelial cell-cell junctions and eventually induces their rupture. At the same time, the growth of intercellular integrin adhesion causes wetting at the spheroid-mesothelium interface and induces deformation of spheroid cells, further facilitating its invasion into the mesothelium. After that, he will talk about how collective active contraction of cells and their interactions with outside dictate the pattern formation of tissues. Finally, he will show how tubulin family proteins (i.e., isotypes) regulate the microtubule accessibility for luminal proteins via the force-induced reversible protofilament separation, and ultimately mechanosensitive response of the cell.
Professor Yuan Lin earned his B.S. and M.S. in Engineering Mechanics from Tsinghua University, followed by another M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a Ph.D. in Solid Mechanics from Brown University. His research on cell/tissue mechanics, bio-microfluidics/MEMS, and functional materials led to publications in top journals, including Nature, Nature Physics, PNAS, Nature Communications, Science Advances and PRL. Professor Lin has served as Chair of the Gordon Research Conference on Nano-Mechanical Interfaces and keynote/invited speaker and organization committee member in more than 30 international conferences. As the PI or Co-PI, he has secured around 20 research grants from Hong Kong government and NSFC.
Clean water and clean air are vital for public health. This project focuses on developing high-efficiency and environmentally sustainable filters for removing harmful air/water pollutants. The team has developed novel architectures and functionalities for the filters to achieve high permeance, high removal efficiency, and excellent reusability.
