Mechanomics Approaches to Understand Cell Behavior in Context of Tissue Neogenesis, During Prenatal Development and Postnatal Healing

Vina D L Putra; Min Jae Song; Sarah McBride-Gagyi; Hana Chang; Kate Poole; Renee Whan; David Dean; Vittorio Sansalone; Melissa L Knothe Tate

doi:10.3389/fcell.2019.00354

Mechanomics Approaches to Understand Cell Behavior in Context of Tissue Neogenesis, During Prenatal Development and Postnatal Healing

Front Cell Dev Biol. 2020 Jan 17:7:354. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2019.00354. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Vina D L Putra¹, Min Jae Song^{2

3}, Sarah McBride-Gagyi^{2

4}, Hana Chang², Kate Poole⁵, Renee Whan⁶, David Dean⁷, Vittorio Sansalone⁸, Melissa L Knothe Tate^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ MechBio Team, Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
² MechBio Team, Departments of Biomedical and Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, School of Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, United States.
³ 3D Bioprinting Core, Ocular and Stem Cell Translational Research Unit, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States.
⁴ Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, United States.
⁵ Cellular Mechanotransduction Group, School of Medical Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
⁶ Biomedical Imaging Facility, Mark Wainwright Analytical Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
⁷ Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States.
⁸ Université Paris-Est Créteil, Laboratoire Modélisation et Simulation Multi Echelle, MSME UMR 8208 CNRS, Créteil Cedex, France.

Abstract

Mechanomics represents the natural progression of knowledge at the intersection of mechanics and biology with the aim to codify the role of mechanical environment on biological adaptation. Compared to the mapping of the human genome, the challenge of mapping the mechanome remains unsolved. Solving this grand challenge will require both top down and bottom up R&D approaches using experimental and computational tools to visualize and measure adaptation as it occurs. Akin to a mechanical test of a smart material that changes its mechanical properties and local environment under load, stem cells adapt their shape, cytoskeletal architecture, intrinsic mechanical properties, as well as their own niche, through cytoskeletal adaptation as well as up- and down-regulation of structural proteins that modulate their mechanical milieux. Recent advances in live cell imaging allow for unprecedented study and measurements of displacements, shape and volume changes in stem cells, reconfiguring of cytoskeletal machinery (nucleus, cytoskeleton), in response to controlled mechanical forces and stresses applied at cellular boundaries. Coupled with multiphysics computational and virtual power theoretical approaches, these novel experimental approaches enable mechanical testing of stem cells, multicellular templates, and tissues inhabited by stem cells, while the stem cells themselves evolve over time. The novel approach is paving the way to decipher mechanisms of structural and functional adaptation of stem cells in response to controlled mechanical cues. This mini-review outlines integrated approaches and methodologies implemented to date in a series of studies carried out by our consortium. The consortium's body of work is described in context of current roadblocks in the field and innovative, breakthrough solutions and is designed to encourage discourse and cross disciplinary collaboration in the scientific community.

Keywords: cell adherence; cell motility; live imaging; mechanoadaptation; mechanomics; stem cell.

Publication types

Review