A study led by IBEC researchers, and published in Nature Cell Biology, shows that applying mechanical force to the cell nucleus affects the transport of proteins across the nuclear membrane. In doing so, this controls cellular processes and could play a key role in various diseases, such as cancer. This entails a novel approach to understanding aspects of cancer invasion and metastasis, opening the door to potential new techniques for diagnosis and therapy.
A team of researchers at IBEC and UPC, led by Pere Roca-Cusachs and Marino Arroyo, study how BAR proteins, a family of molecules that bind curved cellular membranes, reshape these membranes. Scientists report in the journal Nature Communications, through both experiments and modelling, the dynamics of these membrane reshaping processes that occur both in normal cells or disease scenarios.
Researchers led by Pere Roca-Cusachs appear in different media for their study published in the prestigious journal “Nature Communications” that discovers how force dynamics affect cells, and living tissues.
Researchers, led by Pere Roca-Cusachs at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) discover how force dynamics affect cells, and living tissues. The results give an insight into the critical mechanical processes that occur in different diseases such as cancer.
Roger Oria wins the XXIV Doctors’ Senate Award of the University of Barcelona (UB) for his thesis on mechanobiology, an emerging discipline that can help identify new tools to stop pathologies associated with tissue stiffness, such as cancer.
Xavier Trepat and Pere Roca-Cusachs, group leaders at IBEC, appear on the journal “ABC” explaining their research project that they will carry out thanks to funding from “la Caixa” as part of the «Health Research Call ».
IBEC researchers Elena Martínez, Xavier Trepat and Pere Roca-Cusachs aim to understand the processes that promote metastasis in colorectal cancer using innovative bioengineering tools, such as bioprinting and microscopy capable of revealing forces at the cellular level.
The results will be translated into a device that will recreate the tumor environment from cancer cells derived from patients, as well as a new technology that will allow to visualize how physical forces affect the nuclei of metastatic cells.
Pere Roca-Cusachs, group leader at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) and associate professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Barcelona (UB), has been chosen to join the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) , a prestigious network that brings together some of the most brilliant researchers in the world.
Roca-Cusachs is a pioneer in Europe in the mechanobiology field and in the study of how physical forces affect diseases such as cancer.
Pere Roca-Cusachs, principal investigator at IBEC, is the only Catalan chosen this year to join the prestigious European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO).
Three IBEC projects have been selected to receive funding from “La Marató 2018: Against Cancer.” One of the projects is led by the researcher Pere Roca-Cusachs and the other two are co-led by the researchers Xavier Trepat and Núria Montserrat.
The awarding ceremony took place on October 30 in the Auditorium of the Academy of Medical and Health Sciences of Catalonia and the Balearic Islands. In this edition, over the 188 evaluated projects, 43 have been selected by an international committee of experts in cancer based on their excellence, methodology and relevance. La Marató de TV3, together with Catalunya Ràdio, broadcasts its annual telethon to raise funds for scientific research into various diseases with a different theme each year.
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