1. research

Mechanobiology

  • Cell compression device.
  • Botryllus vasculature.
  • Blood vessel cells.
  • uHammer

We aim to understand how forces are generated and transmitted in cells and tissues, and how these dynamic forces control biological outcomes. To enable these measurements, we have pioneered the development of a broad range of new tools and methods for microscale measurements of cell and tissue mechanics.

 Recent Publications

dbtl schematic

The living interface between synthetic biology and biomaterial design

Allen P. Liu, Eric A. Appel, Paul D. Ashby, Brendon M. Baker, Elisa Franco, Luo Gu, Karmella Haynes, Neel S. Joshi, April M. Kloxin, Paul H. J. Kouwer, Jeetain Mittal, Leonardo Morsut, Vincent Noireaux, Sapun Parekh, Rebecca Schulman, Sindy K. Y. Tang, Megan T. Valentine, Sebastián L. Vega, Wilfried Weber, Nicholas Stephanopoulos & Ovijit Chaudhuri. Nature Materials 21:390–397 (2022).
Image of biofilms

Biofilm disruption enhances growth rate and carbohydrate-active enzyme production in anaerobic fungi

Patrick A. Leggieri, Megan T. Valentine, Michelle A. O'Malley. Bioresource Technology. 358:127361 (2022)
schematic of device

A compact rotary magnetic tweezers device for dynamic material analysis

John P. Berezney and Megan T. Valentine. Review of Scientific Instruments 93:093701 (2022).
Image from paper

Uncertainty quantification and estimation in differential dynamic microscopy

Mengyang Gu, Yimin Luo, Yue He, Matthew E. Helgeson, and Megan T. Valentine. Phys. Rev. E 104:034610 (2021).
3D traction map

Rapid analysis of cell-generated forces within a multicellular aggregate using microsphere-based traction force microscopy

Bugra Kaytanli, Aimal H. Khankhel, Noy Cohen, and Megan T. Valentine. Soft Matter 16: 4192-4199 (2020).
Schematic of device

3D-printable cell crowding device enables imaging of live cells in compression

Liam P. Dow, Aimal H. Khankhel, John Abram, and Megan T. Valentine. BioTechniques 68(5) 275-278 (2020).
3D reconstruction of a blood vessel

Characterizing the cellular architecture of dynamically remodeling vascular tissue using 3-D image analysis and virtual reconstruction

Roopa Madhu, Delany Rodriguez, Claudia Guzik, Shambhavi Singh, Anthony W De Tomaso, Megan T Valentine, Dinah Loerke. Molecular Biology of the Cell 31(16), 1714-1725 (2020).
Device Image

Investigating Cellular Response to Impact With a Microfluidic MEMS Device

Luke Patterson, Jennifer Walker, Evelyn Rodriguez-Mesa, Kevin Shields, John Foster, Megan T. Valentine, Adele Doyle, and Kimberly Foster. Journal of Micrelectromechanical Systems 29 14-24 (2020).