Mechanics of Cells and Tissues

The mechanical properties of cells and the extracellular matrix impact a wide variety of biological functions such as cell shape, motility, gene expression, cell fate selection, and tissue functions. The goal of this focus session 'Mechanics of Cells and Tissues' is to bring together researchers from various disciplines working on cell and tissue mechanics and mechanobiology to share their recent experimental and theoretical findings. By doing so, this session will provide a broad understanding of the role that mechanics plays in regulating the function of living cells and tissues, across the molecular to the multicellular scales. The session will feature recent advances in experimental and computational methods that help probe these questions. We welcome submissions from researchers working on a broad range of topics under the cell and tissue mechanics umbrella. Examples include, but are not limited to, passive and active behaviors, mechanical phases of individual cells and cellular collectives, developmental biophysics, mechanical heterogeneity in cells and tissues, viscoelasticity, plasticity and fracture of cells and tissues, tissue shape changes and folding, tissue organization and dynamics beyond 2D such as on curved surface or in 3D, as well as the interplay of mechanics with genetic and biochemical factors.