Cells respond to mechanical stimuli as part of both normal and abnormal development. This phenomenon, known as mechanotransduction, is difficult to study and consequently not well-understood. Focal adhesions are clusters of proteins and integrins that mediate mechanotransduction in cells, however the mechanism for mediation is unclear. The goal of this model surface design is to provide us with a well-defined and flexible platform for studying focal adhesion dynamics. This proposal describes the fabrication and testing of a model system that will be used to study the dynamic response of protein assemblies, formed from cell lysate, to localized force. Responses will be compared to parallel experiments on cells in order to establish the relevance of testing protein assembly dynamics as a model for focal adhesion dynamics. The hypothesis of this work is that applying force to protein assemblies in the model system will result in changes to structural and signaling proteins that mirror the changes seen in cellular focal adhesions. The end product of this work will be a model system that allows investigators to cleanly target individual components and mechanisms of mechanotransduction, leading to a better fundamental understanding this phenomenon. ? ? ?
