Prof Ewa Paluch

The mechanobiology of cell shape control

My group investigates the basic principles underlying animal cell morphogenesis. A precise control of cellular shape is key to cell physiology, and cell shape deregulation is at the heart of many pathological disorders including cancer. Yet, how cells regulate their own shape remains poorly understood. We investigate this question taking an interdisciplinary approach combining molecular and cell biology, quantitative imaging, mechanical measurements and physical modelling.

We particularly focus on the cell cortex, a thin actomyosin network that lies under the plasma membrane and determines the shape of most animal cells. The cortex enables the cell to resist externally applied stresses and to exert mechanical work. As such, it plays a role in normal physiology during events involving cell deformation such as cell division and migration, and in the pathophysiology of diseases such as cancer where cell shape is often deregulated.

Key questions we investigate include:

• The nanoscale architecture of the cortex, to understand cortex mechanics across scales, from molecular processes up.
• The biomechanics of cell division and migration.
• How modulating actin organisation and cell mechanics controls cellular shape changes.
• The cross-talk between cell shape and cell fate.

 

Main sources of funding: ERC, BBSRC, MRC, Leverhulme Trust

Main CollaboratorsGuillaume Charras (LCN, UCL, UK)Ricardo Henriques (MRC LMCB, UK)Philippe Roux (IRIC,  Canada)Guillaume Salbreux (Francis Crick Institute, UK)Kevin Chalut (Stem Cell Institute, Cambridge, UK)Jenny Nichols (University of Edinburgh, UK)Ohad Medalia (University of Zurich, Switzerland) Biography2013-2019 | Professor of Cell Biophysics and MRC Group Leader, UCL, UK2006-2012 | Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics Dresden, Germany; joint appointment with the International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Warsaw, Poland2001-2005 | PhD in Biophysics, University Paris / Institut Curie, Paris, France2000-2001 | DEA (Master) "Interface Physics BIology", University Paris / Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, France1999-2000 | Agrégation in Physics1997-1999 | BSc in Physics, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, France Awards2019 | Laureate in the Life Sciences of the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the UK 2018 | elected EMBO member2017 | Hooke Medal from the British society for Cell Biology2014 | Philip Leverhulme Prize in Biological Sciences for contributions to Cell Biophysics