Special Issue "Programmable Materials for Mechanobiology"

Guest Editor
Dr. James H. Henderson
Syracuse Biomaterials Institute, Department of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering, Syracuse University, 318 Bowne Hall, Syracuse, NY 13244, USA
Website: http://henderson.syr.edu
E-Mail: jhhender@syr.edu
Phone: +1 315 443.9739

Dear Colleagues,

In vitro studies have begun to elucidate the principles through which extracellular matrix (ECM) behavior supports and regulates morphogenesis. In recent years, engineered two- and three-dimensional substrates and scaffolds have provided increasingly powerful tools with which to investigate the relationships between cell mechanical behavior and ECM composition and organization. As engineered in vitro environments become more accurate biochemical and biophysical tools for investigating and modeling in vivo environments, the critical next step for many areas of cell biomechanics and mechanobiology will be incorporation of increased programmable physical functionality into the environments.

This special issue on programmable materials for mechanobiology focuses on research in which material functionality is driving advances in the understanding and application of mechanobiology. Continued progress in this important area of interdisciplinary effort requires diverse contributions from the fields of materials science, soft matter physics, mechanobiology, cell and molecular biology, developmental biology, biomedical imaging, computational modeling, and tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.

Dr. James H. Henderson
Guest Editor

Submission

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• biomaterials
• soft matter
• cell culture
• three-dimensional culture
• scaffold
• substrate
• ECM (extracellular matrix)
• mechanobiology
• mechanotransduction
• biomechanics
• computational modeling
• stem and progenitor cells
• tissue differentiation
• tissue engineering

Feature Paper:

Type of Paper: Review
Title: Bioengineering Embryonic Stem Cell Microenvironments for the Study of Breast Cancer
Authors: Nurazhani Abdul Raof and Yubing Xie
Affiliation: College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, University at Albany, State University of New York, 257 Fuller Road, Albany, NY 12047, USA; E-Mail: YXie@uamail.albany.edu (Y.X.)
Abstract: Breast cancer is the most common disease occurring among women in the United States and metastasis is the main cause of breast cancer death. Invasive breast cancer cells and embryonic stem (ES) cells share certain similar characteristics. One major apparent difference between breast cancer cells and ES cells is in their malignancies state. Embryonic microenvironments have the potential to reverse invasive breast cancer cells to a less invasive phenotype. The recreation of in vitro embryonic microenvironments will enable better understanding of ES cell-breast cancer cell interactions, help elucidate tumorigenesis, and lead to the inhibition of breast cancer metastasis. In this article, we will present the characteristics of breast cancer cells and ES cells, the importance of embryonic microenvironments in inhibiting tumorigenesis, strategies for bioengineering embryonic microenvironments, and the state of the art of using cellular patterning and hydrogel to bioengineer embryonic microenvironments for breast cancer research. The potential application of bioengineered embryonic microenvironments for the prevention and treatment of the invasive breast cancer will be discussed.
Keywords: stem cell; microenvironment; hydrogel; three-dimensional culture; breast cancer cell; metastasis; co-culture

Type of Paper: Review
Title: Mechanobiology of Platelets: Experimental Measurements and Simulation Techniques for Micro- and Nano-scale Interactions 
Author: Shirin Feghhi ¹ and Nathan J. Sniadecki ^1,2
Affiliation: ¹ Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-2600, USA; E-Mails: nsniadec@uw.edu (N.J.S.); shfeghhi@u.washington.edu (S.F.)
² Bioengineering Department, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-2600, USA
Abstract: Platelet aggregation and thrombus formation are complex events that are important in maintaining hemostasis.  Recent investigations have utilized engineered devices that can control the physical interactions for studying platelets at the micro and nano-scale.  These approaches have enabled exciting, new insight into the molecular and biomechanical factors that affect platelets.  In this review, we highlight the new tools used to understand platelet mechanobiology and the roles of shear flow and platelet retraction forces in clot formation.  Various computational models have also been developed to simulate the biomechanics involved in clotting, which has helped to better understand the complex mechanical events that have been difficult to study experimentally.
Keywords: platelet aggregate; contractile forces; shear flow; computational modeling; bioMEMS; microfluidics

General Paper:

Title: Cell‐Biomaterial Interaction in the Framework of Tissue Engineering: Perspectives and New Trends in Computational Modeling
Type of Paper: Review
Author: J.A. Sanz‐Herrera
Affiliation: School of Engineering, University of Seville, Camino de los descubrimientos s/n, 41092 Seville, Spain; E-Mail: jsanz@us.es
Abstract: Tissue engineering is an emerging field of research which combines the use of cellseeded biomaterials both in‐vitro and/or in‐vivo with the aim of promoting new tissue formation or regeneration. In this context, how cells colonize and interact with the biomaterial is critical in order to get a functional tissue engineering product. Cell‐biomaterial interaction is the phenomenon involved in adherent cells attachment to the biomaterial surface and their related cell functions such as growth, differentiation, migration or apoptosis. This process is inherently complex in nature involving many physico‐chemical events which take place at different scales ranging from molecular to cell body (organelle) levels. Moreover, it has been demonstrated that the mechanical environment at the cell‐biomaterial location may play an important role in the subsequent cell function, which remains to be elucidated. In this paper, the state‐of‐the‐art of the physics and mechanics of cell‐biomaterial interaction is reviewed. The paper is focused on the different models developed at different scales available to simulate certain features of cell‐biomaterial interaction. A proper understanding of cellbiomaterial interaction, as well as the development of predictive models in this sense, may add some light in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine fields.
Keywords: cell mechanics; adherent cells; cell‐biomaterial interaction; tissue engineering; computational modeling.

Type of Paper: Review
Title: Synthetic and Naturally-Derived Materials to Engineer the Cellular Microenvironment
Authors: Saumendra Bajpai and Cynthia A. Reinhart-King
Affiliation: Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA; E-Mail: cak57@cornell.edu
Abstract: Two major hurdles in studying biological systems and administering effective therapies are 1. Lack of a suitable cell-culture model that replicates the dynamic nature of cell-microenvironment interactions, and 2. Lack of compatibility between external surfaces and native tissue environment. Advances in the field of surface-chemistry and polymerization have allowed researchers to investigate novel materials that are extrinsically tunable. Usage of such materials in modeling tissues in vitro has offered valuable insights in numerous cell-processes such as motility, invasion, and alterations in cell-morphology.  In this review, we discuss some of the novel techniques that have been devised to mimic cell-tissue interactions more closely and to study cell-response towards changes in distinct physico-chemical characteristic of these materials. The intricacies of using tissue-derived collagen as well as its pitfalls are discussed in the context of newer biomaterials such as hybridized oligo-substrates, and other synthetic peptides that offer controlled cross-linking, ligand-presentation and enable measurements of cellular mechanics. Such tunable systems offer the hope that by altering individual features of the microenvironment in vitro, the molecular basis of mechanotransduction may be laid out in future.
Keywords: Substrate; scaffold; collagen; gel; cross-linker; peptide; mechanotransduction