Dr. Chen from the Newcastle University

Date:2015-12-22

Topic: Nanomechanics and Biomechanics in Cell and Tissue Engineering
Time: 10:00AM 28th December 2015
Location: A302
Speaker: Dr. Jinju (Vicky) Chen, Lecturer in Nano-Biomechanics,School of Mechanical & System
Engineering,Newcastle University,   NE1 7RU,United Kingdom
E-mail: Jinju.chen@ncl.ac.uk

Cell mechanics and cell-materials interactions are important for disease diagnosis and tissue engineering. The synergistic combination of computational modelling and experimental approaches allows exploring phenomena in cell mechanics and mechanotransduction that are not easily accessible with experimental methods alone. A hybrid modelling–nanomechanical testing approach enables determining the viscoelastic properties of the living cells, which is useful to quantify the biomechanical effects of drug treatment, diseases and aging [1-2]. Such a nano-biomechanical technique can also be applied to assess the micro(nano)scale mechanical properties of engineered bone [3], extracellular matrix [4-5] and scaffold materials [6] which could further the understanding cell-materials interactions.  In addition, this presentation will cover how cells respond to two-dimensional and three-dimensional micromechanical environment [7-9], which will help a better understanding of the mechanotransduction and provide valuable guide for optimising  scaffold design and cell manipulations for desired tissue engineering.