Professor Valentine presents to the University of Arizona College of Medicine

In this presentation to the Basic Medical Sciences group of the University of Arizona College of Medicine, Professor Valentine described the lab's recent discovery that we can directly apply physical forces and monitor the downstream responses in a living organism in real time through manipulation of the blood vessels of a marine organism called Botryllus schlosseri.  The molecular and cellular origins of this systemic remodeling event depend on upon the ability of individual vascular cells to sense and respond to mechanical signals. Thus, Botryllus is exciting new model system for cellular studies of mechanobiology.