Guest Editors
Ekrem Emrah Er
Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Illinois Chicago
<p>Ekrem Emrah Er, PhD, received his BSc from Bilkent University, Ankara, and his PhD from Harvard University, Cambridge. He completed his postdoctoral training at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, and joined the University of Illinois Chicago as an assistant professor in October 2019.</p><p><br></p><p>His laboratory investigates how biophysical characteristics of cancer cells impact their interaction with the immune system within the tumor microenvironment by using biophysical, biochemical, and transcriptomic approaches in mouse models and patient samples. His research is supported by the National Cancer Institute, American Cancer Society–Illinois Cancer Research Fund, Concern Foundation, Michael Reese Foundation, and the University of Illinois Cancer Center.</p><p><br></p><p>Dr. Er serves as a co-leader of the Tumor Microenvironment Working Group at the University of Illinois Cancer Center and is a member of the American Association for Cancer Research.</p>
Tae-Hyung Kim
Department of Pathology, University of New Mexico
<p>Tae-Hyung Kim, PhD, received his BS in Biological Sciences from Sungkyunkwan University, South Korea, and his PhD in Biomedical Sciences from North Carolina State University. He completed postdoctoral training at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of California, Los Angeles, and joined the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center as an Assistant Professor in 2020.</p><p><br></p><p>Dr. Kim’s research investigates how glucose metabolism, stress signaling, and the tumor microenvironment regulate cancer cell mechanics, invasion, and metastasis, particularly in triple-negative breast cancer. His laboratory integrates mechanobiology, cell biology, and cancer metabolism approaches to identify novel therapeutic strategies targeting metastatic progression. His research is supported by the National Institutes of Health, METAvivor, the American Cancer Society, and the University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center.</p><p><br></p><p>Dr. Kim serves in leadership roles within the AACR Tumor Microenvironment Working Group and is a member of AACR and ASCB.</p>
Collection Overview
Cancer cells experience a variety of physical stresses, and understanding how these physical stimuli change malignant phenotypes will provide new insights into cancer progression, drug resistance, metastasis, and dormancy. Cancer cells respond to physical stimuli through regulation of mechano-chemical signal transduction (mechanotransduction), mechanoadaptation, and mechanoreciprocity. Mechanotransduction involves a cascade of cellular signaling events that induce an immediate biochemical and transcriptional output. Mechanoadaptation involves the reorganization of cellular and subcellular structures to withstand the damage that can be caused by external forces. Mechanoreciprocity is the ability of the cell to change the physical properties of the surrounding tissue through matrix remodeling, which in turn triggers signaling events in cancer cells and in the cells of the tumor microenvironment.
This Topical Collection will describe a variety of technical approaches that help researchers investigate the impact of physical cues on cancer biology, tumor microenvironment, and tumor physiology. We propose to prioritize methods that describe how to apply external physical force, such as compression, shear stress, confinement, and tissue stiffness, and how to measure cellular phenotypes in cancer cells and cells of the tumor microenvironment. These phenotypes include, but are not limited to, signal transduction, gene expression, DNA organization, and biophysical properties of cells and tissues. We specifically welcome experimental approaches that have minimal use of highly specialized and custom equipment, with the hope of making the field of mechanobiology more accessible to cancer biologists.
Abstracts
A Mechanical Conditioning Workflow for Testing Mechanical Memory
Makena Manes*1,
Robert Shaw1,
Shay Parchem1,
Hibba Ahmed1,
Nitish Bhamidipati1,
Rafael Kasparov1,
Ghassan Mouneimne1
1University of Arizona