Join Professor Patricia Bassereau of Institut Curie for a research seminar entitled "Mechanics of Cellular Protrusions" as part of the Force Talk series.

Abstract:

Cell membranes are highly deformable and can be strongly curved. For instance, cells extend thin and dynamic tubular plasma membrane protrusions called "filopodia" for sensing their surroundings and for their motion. They can also form protrusions that directly connect cells (tunnelling nanotubes) at larger distances than the usual filopodia lengths and allow for the transfer of cellular components. These finger-like protrusions are formed by actin parallel filaments pushing against the membrane while they polymerize.

Professor Bassereau will present their biophysical approaches, in cellulo and in vitro, to understand how these protrusions are locally generated and how they generate pulling forces.

Speaker:

Patricia Bassereau is CNRS Research Director at the Institut Curie (Paris) and leads the group "Membranes and cellular functions". She obtained a PhD in Soft Matter in Montpellier where she started her carrier on the structure of self-assembled surfactant-based systems. After a year at IBM Almaden Center (San Jose, USA), she moved to Institut Curie in 1993 to work on "Physics of the Cell" and cell membranes. For her research, she develops a multidisciplinary approach, largely based on synthetic biology and biomimetic systems, as well as quantitative mechanical and microscopy methods to understand the dynamics, the organization and the mechanics of biological membranes.

In 2015 she received the Suffrage Science Award (Royal Society, UK), in 2017 the Emmy Noether Distinction for Women in Physics (EPS), the Avanti Award in Lipids of the Biophysical Society (BPS) in 2022; she is Fellow of the BPS since 2018 and Elected EMBO Member since 2020.

 

Mechanics of Life Leverhulme DSP Force Talks Series

Force Talks is a seminar series hosted by the Mechanics of Life Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarship Programme at King's College London. We are honoured to welcome world leaders in mechanobiology.

The series aims to showcase the rapidly expanding interdisciplinary field of mechanobiology and mechanical forces. We welcome those from academia and industry to attend and take part in the discussions.

The programme is funded by the Leverhulme Trust doctoral scholarship grant "Understanding the mechanics of life".

Learn more about the Mechanics of Life Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarship Programme

How to join:

This event will take place online via Microsoft Teams. To receive the link to join register for the webinar via the "Go to this event" button. 

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