Spring 2023 Physics Colloquium: New approaches to sense forces and direct organization in model tissues

Abstract: New approaches to sense forces and direct organization in model tissues Biological materials have remarkable abilities to sense, respond, adapt and move. Their ability to generate and regulate forces underpin these essential features and understanding how cells accomplish these complex tasks across scales from molecular to macroscopic could unlock tremendous potential to solving engineering challenges. In this talk, I will describe my group’s recent work in developing hydrogel-based force sensors to study cell-level mechanobiology, as well as the development of new materials and methods to direct and study the organization of model tissues.

Bio: Megan T. Valentine is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Co-Director of the California NanoSystems Institute at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her interdisciplinary research group investigates many aspects of biological and bioinspired materials, with an emphasis on understanding how forces are generated and transmitted in living materials, how these forces control cellular outcomes, and how the extraordinary features of living systems can be captured in manmade materials. This highly interdisciplinary experimental work lies at the intersection of engineering, physics, biology and chemistry, and advances diverse application areas, ranging from marine-inspired materials to mechanobiology to soft robotics. Megan received her B.S from Lehigh University, M.S. from UPenn and Ph.D. from Harvard, all in Physics. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford in the Department of Biological Sciences, where she was the recipient of a Damon Runyon Cancer Research Postdoctoral Fellowship, and a Burroughs Wellcome Career Award at the Scientific Interface. In 2008, she joined the faculty at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she now serves as a co-leader of an IRG on Resilient Multiphase Soft Materials within the UC Santa Barbara Materials Research Laboratory, an NSF MRSEC. In 2013, she was awarded an NSF CAREER Award for her work on neuron mechanics, and in 2015 was awarded a Fulbright to study adhesion mechanics in Paris, France. She is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.

In-person only. Refreshments served in PAS 218 at 2:45PM