Studies of force-regulated processes in living cells by Magnetic tweezers (MT) (CAT#: STEM-MB-1239-WXH)

Introduction

Living cells respond to a wide variety of mechanical stimuli, including stretch, fluid flow, osmotic potential, and the stiffness of their surroundings. More subtly, living tissues are remarkably sensitive to the mechanical cues provided by their surroundings. Stem cells grown on soft surfaces are primed to differentiate and form correspondingly soft tissues such as fat or nervous tissue, whereas cells grown on harder surfaces differentiate to form bone cells.1 On longer length scales, the growth and development of our organs require precise changes in shape, with tightly controlled tissue-level mechanical stresses and strains.