Cell News 02/2018
18
MEETING REPORT
University of Heidelberg, Germany) Mechanotransduction in
Collective Cell Migration
Stefan Diez
(Technical University Dresden, Germany) Of Active
Motors and Passive Crosslinker: Reconstituting Adaptive
Microtubule Networks
Erwin Frey
(Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Germany)
Multiscale Cell Motility: From Substrate Deformation to Collective
Migration
Ramin Golestanian
(University of Oxford, UK) Emergent
Cancer-like Phenomenology in a Simple Model of Cells with
Growth and Chemical Signalling
Stefanie Riedel
(Leibniz Institute of Surface Modification,
Germany) Electron Irradiated Hydrogels: Reagent-Free
Modification towards Biomedical Applications
Karsten Rippe
(German Cancer Research Center Heidelberg,
Germany) Establishing Nuclear Subcompartments and Chromatin
Patterns to Regulate Gene Expression
Jennifer Schwarz
(Syracuse University, USA) Strain-Controlled
Rigidity Transitions in Cells and the Role of the Cell Nucleus
Rudolf Merkel
(Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany)
Physicochemical Properties of Basement Membranes Formed
by a Cell Culture Model of Human Breast Glands
Session IV: Tissue Organization
Karen Alim
(Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-
Organization Göttingen, Germany) Morphology Control by
Active Fluid Flows
Christoph Mark
(Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-
Nuremberg, Germany) An Intriguing Similarity between Cancer
Metastasis and Financial Markets
Ana-Suncana Smith
(Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-
Nuremberg, Germany) Tissue organization and growth
Jochen Guck
(Technical University Dresden, Germany) Physical
Aspects of Successful Cell Circulation and Migration
Clemens Franz
(Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany)
Mapping Cadherin-Dependent Cell Adhesion and Elasticity Chang-
es in Tissue Explants during the Transition from Collective
to Single-Cell Migration
Aftab Taiyab
(McMaster University, Canada) Regulation of Actin
Cytoskeleton during Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition –
The Ocular Lens Perspective
Marija Plodinec
(University Center Basel, Switzerland) In Situ
Mechanobiology of Epithelia in Health and Disease
Keeping the discussion alive and connecting to previous symposia,
the 9th meeting will be held again in Leipzig, from September 24
to 26, 2018, and will continue with some of the issues and even a
few of the speakers seen at the 8th meeting. The full program can
be accessed at
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We encourage everybody interested in the physical bases and
manifestations of cancer to attend, and in particular ask all PIs to
also convince her/his students to come to the meeting. The input
from, and contributions by the young minds who will drive the
field for decades to come is the vital lifeblood of our, as well as
any evolving scientific field. While we, as organizers and hosts,
provide the location, logistical framework and other essential
elements (most importantly food and caffeine) needed for a
stimulating meeting, it is our guests who steer the flavor of the
events. With a limited attendance of 120 participants, we not only
guarantee a chance for close interactions with the other guests,
but also the opportunity for each participant reach a highly
diverse and motivated group of scientists with their hard-earned
research results. In the past, this environment has led to many
new ideas, scientific collaborations and joint funding initiatives,
and we expect this tradition to continue as we arrive to the cusp
of our 10-year birthday.
This year we welcome cell biophysicist Prof. Ben Fabry (University
of Erlangen) and clinical surgeon Dr. Benjamin Wolf (University of
Leipzig Hospital) to the organizing committee. The new members
to our team reinforce the excellent physical core of the confer-
ence, and support its expansion to include more solutions-based,
clinical contributions.
Besides physics, cell biology medicine and cancer, Leipzig, the city
of composers Johann Sebastian Bach and Felix Mendelssohn-Bar-
tholdy, has much to offer including many theaters and museums,
not to forget its central role of the people in the recent peaceful
uprising in 1989, and the not-so-peaceful defeat of Napoleon
in 1813. For the literature aficionados, the city's famous restau-
rant Auerbach's Keller offers a chance to see one of the most
important locations in Goethe's classic work Faust, and even join
the more adventurous members of the organizing committee in
re-living the protagonist's famous “joyride” on the bewitched wine
barrel. In the hours outside of the meeting, it is worthwhile to go
to the many street cafes, pubs and the bars to talk to the people
who lived through and witnessed the more recent of the city's
historic events.
Ben Fabry on a Faustian joyride.
