UA Biophysics:Molecular Mechanics

Cell mechanics and adhesion, Microscopy

P.i. Manu Forero

Intercellular interactions are fundamental to understanding many processes related to disease. In particular, new approaches to fight disease can come from understanding how pathogens attach and interact with host cells, interact with the host´s defenses or join forces in a colony for added resistance. Infection starts as mechanical process (adhesion and invasion) followed by intercellular interactions that can either be host-pathogen or among pathogens as in biofilms. We use tools such as the Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) to probe mechanical interactions and adhesion, as well as Light Sheet Fluorescence Microscopy (LSFM) to understand other intercellular interactions, via gene expression and tracking, for example.