Cross-talk between cell mechanics, cell shape and cell fate
A precise control of cell morphology is key for cell physiology, and cell shape deregulation is at the heart of many pathological disorders. Furthermore, transitions in cellular fate and state are often associated with changes in cell shape, and strong evidence points to the existence of feedbacks between mechanics, morphology and fate decisions. Cell morphology is intrinsically controlled by mechanical forces acting on the cell surface, to understand shape it is thus essential to investigate the regulation of cellular mechanics. I will discuss how cellular mechanical properties drive cellular shape changes, and the cross-talk between mechanics and state in cellular transitions.
SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY
Ewa Paluch graduated in Physics from the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Lyon in 2001 and did a PhD in Biophysics at the Curie Institute in Paris between 2001 to 2005. She started her research group in 2006 at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden, as a joint appointment with the International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology in Warsaw. In 2013, she was appointed Professor of Cell Biophysics at the MRC LMCB, University College London. From 2014 to 2018, she also headed the new UCL Institute for the Physics of Living Systems, which promotes collaborations between physicists and biologists at UCL. In 2018 she was elected Chair of Anatomy at the University of Cambridge. Ewa is the 19th Professor of Anatomy at Cambridge, and the first woman to hold this Chair in its 300-year history. She has received a number of awards, including the Hooke Medal from the British Society for Cell Biology in 2017, EMBO membership in 2018, the Blavatnik Award for Young Scientists in the UK in 2019, and the DGZ Carl Zeiss Lecture Award in 2022. In 2024, she was featured as one of “50 Scientists that inspire” for the 50th Anniversary of Cell Press.
Ewa leads a cross-disciplinary lab combining molecular and cell biology, biophysics, quantitative imaging and modelling to investigate the fundamental principles underlying cellular morphogenesis. The lab’s research directions span cell surface mechanics regulation, the control of cell shape during cell division and migration, and the cross-talk between cell mechanics, cell shape and cell fate during cellular transitions.
Lab website:
paluchlab.uk
Date:
24 July 2025, 16:00
Venue:
Sherrington Library, off Parks Road OX1 3PT
Venue Details:
Sherrington Building
Speaker:
Professor Ewa Paluch (University of Cambridge)
Organising department:
Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics (DPAG)
Organiser contact email address:
events@dpag.ox.ac.uk
Host:
Professor Paul Riley (DPAG, University of Oxford)
Part of:
Cardiac Sciences Theme Guest Speakers
Booking required?:
Not required
Audience:
Members of the University only
Editor:
Hannah Simm
