Biophysical Society Bulletin | March 2024

Publications

Know the Editor Baohua Ji Zhejiang University

Editor’s Pick

Editorial Board Member Biophysical Journal

Baohua Ji

What are you currently working on that excites you? I am currently exploring how groups of cells behave in the processes of wound healing, tissue morphogenesis, and can cer metastasis. What excites me is the possibility of influenc ing these processes via mechanical approaches because cell adhesion, cell polarization, and cell arrangement are sensitive to mechanical stimuli. If we can adjust the mechanical stress in living organisms, it opens a new avenue for treating diseas es. This perspective lets us tackle diseases from a mechanical viewpoint, intervening in processes like optimizing wound healing and resisting tumor spread. What has been your most exciting discovery as a biophysicist? The most exciting discovery is that we found a strong con nection between the way cells are organized and the stress field in cells and tissue. For instance, at the level of individual cells, the anisotropy of tensile stress in cells determines cell polarity, adding new aspects to what we understand as cell polarity. At the tissue level, the stress in the tissue shapes how cells are arranged. These findings show how the organi zation of cells in living tissue is linked to mechanical forces at multiple scales, uncovering the secret of how Mother Nature builds living tissue. We then built a quantitative relationship between the stress field and cell polarization and arrange ment. This provides the basis for predicting how cells will behave in tissue at various physiological and pathological conditions.

Biophysical Reports Observing mechanosensitive channels in action in living bacteria Mohammad Sharifian Gh., Michael J. Wilhelm, Hai-Lung Dai “Mechanosensitive (MS) channels are important safety valves that protect cells from extreme pressures after acute changes in environmental osmolarity. Specifically, MS channels are membrane-embedded proteins, which (when open) permit free diffusion of osmolytes (salts) across the cytoplasmic membrane. In addition to conditions of osmotic shock, it is now known that amphiphilic molecules can likewise acti vate these channels, allowing free passage of otherwise membrane-impermeant species. Currently, the dominant means for experimentally monitoring these channels is the patch-clamp method, which typically makes use of channels embedded in isolated membrane systems. Here, the authors demonstrate a nonlinear optical scattering technique, which permits observation of the activity of MS channels in intact living cells, even multimembrane cells (e.g., Gram-negative bacteria).”

Version of Record Published December 11, 2023 DOI: https:/doi.org/10.1016/j.bpr.2023.100141

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March 2024

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