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This autumn, the MERLN Institute will celebrate its 10th anniversary. For this special occasion we are organizing an international conference to celebrate our science together with key opinion leaders in the field of regenerative medicine. This two and a half days conference will take place on the 16th, 17th, and 18th of October in Maastricht. We would like to invite you to join this conference and explore the key themes of regenerative medicine.

Link:

https://merlninstitute.com/news-and-events/news/collaborative-horizons-shared-discoveries-in-regenerative-medicine-conference

Meeting Description:

The main topics will be:

• mechanical immune escape mechanisms
• innovative ex-vivo cancer models
• intermediate filaments
• cell and tissue mechanics

If you are able to follow this invitation, please let us know within the next week. We would ask that you provide us with a provisional title for your presentation at your earliest convenience. Every speaker will have 25 minutes speaking time, plus 5 minutes for questions. There is a strong preference for on-site talks.

We are currently in the process of securing funding from the DFG (German research foundation) as well as a number of sponsors. As such, we cannot yet ensure the full coverage of costs, but expect to be able to pay for your hotel accommodation and travel costs up to a certain limit. It would be our pleasure to organize hotel accommodation for you.

On site:

BBZ Leipzig/ Germany

Organizers:

Josef Käs (Leipzig University, Germany)

Ben Fabry (FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany)

Mareike Zink (Leipzig University, Germany)

Christoph Mark (FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany)

Anna Taubenberger (TU Dresden, Germany)

Jörg Schnauß (Leipzig University, Germany)

More:

https://conference.uni-leipzig.de/poc/

Meeting Description:

Mechanochemistry and mechanobiology are quickly advancing fields, focusing on the effects of mechanical forces on molecules and materials of both synthetic and biological origin. Fundamental research is increasingly translated into practical applications, such as self-healing and responsive materials as well as mechanodiagnostics and therapeutics. This conference bridges fundamental with applicationoriented research and encourages collaboration among scientists from various disciplines. It offers a platform for learning about the latest developments, discussing challenges and fostering innovation in this multidisciplinary area. A preceding GRS facilitates networking and knowledge exchange among young scientists in this rapidly evolving field.

On site:

Bates College, Lewiston, ME, USA

Organizers:

Chair: Kerstin G. Blank

Vice Chairs: Anna Tarakanova, Stephen Schrettl

More:

https://www.grc.org/multiscale-mechanochemistry-and-mechanobiology-conference/2024/

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In January 2022, the new DGZ Focus Workshop series was launched (via Zoom, every last Tuesday of the month, starting at 12 noon. Each Focus Workshop features one work group, and invited speakers range from late-stage PhD students to established PIs. In order to promote inclusion and expand the German Cell Biology network, the Focus Workshop series is currently open also to non-members. Nevertheless, we certainly hope that with these new activities we can convince the next generation of cell biologists of the many benefits of membership in our society.

Link:

https://www.zellbiologie.de/workgroups/

Zoom:

Zoom-ID: 96178106979

Passcode: DGZ_FW

Title:

How Gut Bacteria Alter Brain: the fascinating impact of our little guests on our mind

On site:

Institut für Molekulare und Zelluläre Anatomie

Seminarraum MTI 1

RWTH-Berichter:

Prof. Dr. Marc Spehr

More:

Der Vortrag wird zusätzlich auch digital angeboten:

https://rwth.zoom-x.de/j/65948760479?pwd=c3djWGVGZ0RXNVFJdG9sSHg0RG9jdz09

Nur der Vortrag ist öffentlich, nicht die anschließende Diskussion.

Speaker:

Sarah Heilshorn

Topics:

During development and disease, a cell’s behavior is directly influenced by its surrounding microenvironment Thus, when designing patient derived organoid models,ideally each tissue type would be cultured in its own customizable biomaterial that matches the specific developmental stage or disease state found in vivo To fulfill this need, my lab designs bespoke biomaterials that can be tailored to fit a range of applications In one demonstration, I present a family of dynamic biomaterials that support the growth of patient derived pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (organoids Through control of the matrix, we find that PDAC becomes significantly more chemoresistant in response to mechanosignaling through CD 44 receptors Excitingly, this chemoresistance is reversible, with PDAC regaining sensitivity to frontline chemotherapy upon softening of the matrix In a second example, I present a new “pick and place” 3 D bioprinting strategy for the spatial positioning of neural organoids within a dynamic support matrix Using this method, we can fabricate large tissue structures composed of multiple organoids that fuse together We demonstrate potential applications in the fabrication of neural assembloids composed of dorsal and ventral patterned neural organoids together with patient derived brain cancer spheroids We envision that these two technologies will be used together in the future to create personalized tissue models of individual patients

Organizers:

Laura De Laporte

DWI – Leibniz-Institut für Interaktive Materialien e.V

Zoom link:

https://rwth.zoom-x.de/j/64519834698?pwd=QTF3K1RGckZYZDJURzZoNEZzWHJJUT09

Speaker:

Medhavi Vishwakarma

Department of Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Science

https://be.iisc.ac.in/medhavi-vishwakarma/

Topics:

Epithelial tissues are first line of defence against pathogenic organisms and chemical agents and are

present in our body in varying architectures. Studies on homeostatic epithelial monolayers revealed physical

characteristics of epithelial cells and drew parallels with dynamic heterogeneity in non-equilibrium jammed

matter. Our understanding of mechanics of epithelium however remains incomplete, firstly, because the

characterization lack temporal analysis, and secondly, the crosstalk between physical manifestations of jamming,

and biochemical signalling remain missing. Here, using epithelia of kidney and breast origin, we study spatiotemporal

dynamics of epithelial mechanics, and relate tissue mechanics with tissue functions, such as remodelling

during wound healing (1,2), and epithelial defence against cancer (3). As expected, clustering of cellular forces

over multiple cell distances, in space correlated with clustering of biochemical force transducer actin. Interestingly,

we found local temporal oscillations with a distinct period of 10 hours, in both cell-substrate forces, as well as in

expression of actin, revealing a periodic heterogeneity in epithelia when looked at in temporal domain. We show

that these local oscillations are driven by emergent collective behaviour and are dictated by the size of the tissue.

Furthermore, using MDCK/HRasV12 competition model, we show that the local temporal oscillations within the

tissue dictate the ability of epithelia to defend itself against cancer. Using 3D breast acini cultures, and

pseudostratified lung air-liquid interface (ALI) cultures, I will also show our efforts towards studying epithelial

mechanics in tissue like architectures, and how such systems can be used- not only for deciphering the

fundamental mechanisms of cancer initiation and progression, but also to study impact of pharmaceutical agents,

biological agents, and toxins on epithelia tissues.

On site:

Seminarraum B1.72

DWI – Leibniz-Institut für Interaktive Materialien

Forckenbeckstraße 50, 52074 Aachen

Host:

Jacopo Di Russo

Contact:

me3t@ukaachen.de

Meeting Description:

Sara Wickström and Carsten Grashoff

Introduction

Srishti Rangarajan
PhD Student, University of Münster

The ‘tail’ of Talin: Mechanical adaptation during multicellular evolution

Ingo Thievessen

Research Group Leader, FAU Erlangen

Monitoring and reduction of cell damage caused by shear stress during bioprinting

Amaia Cipitria

Research Group Leader, MPI of Colloids and Interfaces Biomaterials in cancer dormancy and early metastasis

Julian Nüchel

Research Group Leader, University Cologne

Bulky enough for (a) TANGO? – Novel insights into ECM secretion

Contact:

Sandra Iden

More:

https://zellbiologie.de/en/dgz-focus-workshops-2/

Link:

Zoom-ID: 96178106979

Passcode: DGZ_FW

Speaker:

Andreas R. Bausch

Center for functional Protein Assemblies (CPA), Center of Organoid Systems (COS), Technical University Munich

Topics:

Living matter relies on the self-organization of its components into higher order structures, on the

molecular as well as on the cellular, organ or even organism scale. Collective motion due to active transport

processes has been shown to be a promising route for attributing fascinating order formation processes on these

different length scales. Here I will present recent results on structure formation of actively transported actin

filaments, as well as the cell migration induced structure formation in the developmental phase of organoids.

On site:

Seminarraum B1.72

DWI – Leibniz-Institut für Interaktive Materialien

Forckenbeckstraße 50, 52074 Aachen

Host:

Rudolf leube

Contact:

me3t@ukaachen.de

Topics

The Future 3D Additive Manufacturing – The 3DMM2O Conference 2023: 3D Molecular Systems was very exciting and enriching, full of fruitful scientific discussions and inspiring exchanges.

Link:

https://future3dam.org/

Meeting Description:

Dear Mechanobiology enthusiasts,

The website for the 2024 edition of "Nanoengineering for Mechanobiology" is finally online.

Head towards the website [https://n4m.mechanobiology.eu/2024] to look at the list of speakers and to submit an abstract to participate.

The event will take place from the 3rd to the 7th of March 2024 in the traditional location, the Hotel Cenobio dei Dogi [www.cenobio.it], which is going to be fully dedicated to N4M for the next edition.

The 2024 program will span across scales, addressing the "Mechanobiology of Molecular and Cellular Systems" along 5 scientific sessions:

    Nanomechanics and mechanosensing

    Cellular mechanobiology and mechanotransduction

    Modelling mechanobiology

    Collective cellular processes

    Organoids and multicellular systems

You can have a look at the impressive list of invited speakers an get an idea of the organisation of the program for the 4 days of activity.

We are looking forward to meet you again in Camogli!

The N4M committee

On site:

Camogli, Genova, Italy

More:

https://n4m.mechanobiology.eu/2024

Meeting Description:

We are organizing the in-person World Wide Sodium Channel Conference from January 31st to February 2nd 2024 in Grindelwald, Switzerland. This conference covers the sodium channels from biophysics, cellular excitability, disesase relevance to clinics and is a direct continuation of our very successful series of online lectures on sodium channels in the World Wide Sodium Channel Seminar Series. To continue the highly fruitful exchange of ideas and new data, we now invite you to join the in-person discussions and submit an abstract by November 18th.exchange among young scientists in this rapidly evolving field.

On site:

Grindelwald, Switzerland

More:

https://sodiumchannelseminars.org/Sodium-Channel-Conference-2024/