Cell News 04/2019
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MEETING REPORT
Revealing unifying principles and generating a mechanistic
understanding of cancer constitutes a thrilling chance for a
fundamental breakthrough in cancer treatment. In this regard,
medical research profits from the development of interdisci-
plinary fields such as "Physics of Cancer" - a newly emerging
research area at the interface between physics and cancer
research. The goal of this field is to identify general physical
mechanisms behind the growth and disseminations of tumours
in the human body, with a focus on the effect of passive and
active forces acting on cell signalling, cell proliferation and cell
migration.
The 10th International Symposium 'Physics of Cancer' has
highlighted the latest developments in this field. The two focus
topics for this year’s symposium were i) the impact of me-
chanical confinement on tumor growth and ii) the interaction
between stroma and tumor tissue.
In addition to the founders of the annual meeting Prof. Josef
Käs and Prof. Harald Herrmann, this year’s conference was or-
ganized by Elisabeth Fischer-Friedrich (Biotec, TU Dresden) and
Thomas Fuhs (University of Leipzig), as well as Prof. Ben Fabry
from FAU Erlangen and Dr. Benjamin Wolf from the University
Hospital Leipzig.
The continued international interest in our annual conference
was demonstrated by again more than 100 participants from 9
different countries (Germany, USA, France, Spain, Serbia, Aus-
tralia, Israel, Cyprus and Finland). There were 27 invited and 5
contributed talks selected from the submitted abstracts. Of all
32 speakers, 12 were female. 37 abstracts were submitted and
displayed at this year’s meeting.
The following sections highlight some particularly relevant
talks and events from the different sessions and provide and
excerpt-like summary of the conference.
First day:
The symposium started with a
session on cell mechanics
in
the context of cancer and was opened by a contribution of the
conference founder
Josef Käs
(University of Leipzig) with the
title “Cell and tissue mechanics in solid tumors: Hype or prog-
ress?”. He presented an overview of the past twenty years of
cell-mechanical research in the context of cancer and pointed
out that cell mechanics could not yet give rise to translation-
al impact. In conclusion, Josef argued that the approach of
cell-mechanical characterization needs to be critically re-
viewed. At the same time, Josef could show how an integrated
approach to cell and tissue mechanics in his lab can provide
new insight on cancer tissues from patients.
A second highlight was the talk of
Paul Janmey
, who discussed
how viscous dissipation in soft substrates affects focal adhe-
sion formation, cell morphology, and motility. He presented
work showing that the loss modulus of cell substrates triggers
mechanosensitive response in cells which can influence cell
migratory properties. Paul pointed out that this phenomenon
is currently under-examined and that responsible signalling
pathways yet remain to be characterized.
The first day was concluded by a
conference buffet dinner
and
an accompanying poster session. The highlight of the evening
was the bestowal of the
young scientist award
(funded by
the DGZ) for the best three posters. The first price was won
by Martin Kräter (Max Planck Institute for the Science of
Light & Max-Planck-Zentrum für Physik und Medizin, lab of
Jochen Guck) who presented his outstanding work on “Cell
morpho-rheological properties in microcirculation” demon-
strating how cell-mechanical properties of stem cells affect
capillary trapping for instance in the lung. The second and
third price were awarded to Jenny Zanetta Kechagia (IBEC
Barcelona, Spain, lab of Pere Roca-Cusachs Soulere) and Jana
Sievers (Leibniz Institute for Polymer Research Dresden, lab of
Carsten Werner). Jenny presented her excellent work on the
integrin beta4-keratin link which impairs mechanosensing by
protecting the nucleus form mechanical loading. Jana showed
her impressive study on a biphasic three-dimensional mineral-
ized in vitro hydrogel model for the study of breast cancer cell
invasion into bone.
Joint venture of Physicists and Biologists to fight cancer –
the 10th Physics of Cancer Symposium
The conference was held September 25th – 27th at the Center for Biotechnology and
Biomedicine (BBZ), Leipzig
