Force regulation in contractile cells by chemical and mechanical signaling

<p>Chemical and mechanical signaling are essential for physiological processes. Dysregu- lation of these signals can promote disease states by altering force generation. It is cru- cial that we understand how these signals affect force generation and the implication of that force in health and disease. We approach this by investigating cells from two types of tissues: heart tissue cells and epithelial tumor cells. Chemical signaling by intracellu- lar calcium directly regulates heart contractions. Altered calcium handling in heart cells is known to affect force generation in the heart, leading deleterious effects resulting in cardiovascular disease. Chemical and mechanical signaling in epithelial affect epithe- lial cell force generation. Responses to chemomechanical signals that increase force by epithelial cells has been shown to increase metastatic potential in tumors. The need to understand how these signals affect force generation could provide new insights in identifying targets for treatment. We use computational models to help us gain mech- anistic insight into how cells regulate force generation as a response to chemical and mechanical cues.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Philosophy, PhD

Level thesis:degree_level

Open Access Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Institute of Mathematical Sciences

Year dc:date.available

2021

Author dc:creator

• Vazquez-Hidalgo, Esteban

Contributors dc:contributor

• Paul Paolini
• Christal Sohl
• Ali Nadim

• actin
• calcium
• cancer
• computational model
• myosin

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/305

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarship.claremont.edu:cgu_etd-1271