Ming Guo: “When Mechanics Meets Biology: Cell Mechanics and Mechanobiology in Multicellular Living Systems”

Associate Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Abstract: Sculpting of structure and function of three-dimensional multicellular tissues depend critically on the spatial and temporal coordination of cellular physical properties. Yet the organizational principles that govern these events, and their disruption in disease, remain poorly understood. My lab works on developing new tools to characterize and understand the role of mechanics in biology. In this talk, I will introduce our recent progress in characterizing cell and ECM mechanics, and their interactions in 3D and in multicellular systems. I will also discuss the impact of cell mechanics on a variety of critical cell biological functions.

Bio: Ming Guo is currently an associate professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT, and associated faculty in the MIT Physics of Living Systems Center and Center for Multi-Cellular Engineered Living Systems. Before joining MIT in 2015, Ming obtained his PhD in 2014 in Applied Physics, and MS in 2012 in Mechanical Engineering at Harvard University, and BS in Engineering Mechanics in Tsinghua University. Ming has won numerous awards including Alfred Sloan Fellow in Physics and IUPAP Young Scientist Prize in Biological Physics.y