Breakthrough in Biomechanics of Cellular Self-Organization by UCSD

UC San Diego researchers have recently made new discoveries in the biomechanical aspect of cellular self-organization. The basic chemical and biological aspects of this field have been studied, but these UC San Diego scientists have mapped out the biomechanical effects of density of cells in a colony. The study was done on rod-shaped Escheria coli. They ran fluid across different density of cell colonies and then allowed them to realign themselves. They saw that after flow stopped the bacteria was able to return back to near perfect realignment. This discovery helped them make a general model of cell ordering and biomechanics role within it. The research revealed how cell growth and colony expansion affect cellular orientation and how the orientation affects the biomechanical properties of the colony.

I really enjoyed this article and the paper published by the researchers because biomechanics is one of the two tracks in our major that I'm considering of going into and these discoveries could possibly be the new breaking material that we will learn as I delve farther into my education. Also, I am looking at UCSD for my Masters in Bioengineering so reading into their research has been a bit of a hobby for me these last two years.


http://esciencenews.com/articles/2008/10/06/uc.san.diego.bioengineers.fill.holes.science.cellular.self.organization