Grashoff

The skin is the largest organ in the human body and serves, among other things, to protect against physical injury. To provide such protection, skin cells must be tightly connected to each other. However, it was long unclear exactly how such mechanical stability is achieved. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry together with researchers from Stanford University (USA) have now been able to show how mechanical stress is processed at special cell anchoring points known as desmosomes. For this purpose, they developed a miniature device to measure forces across individual proteins within desmosomes. In the study published in Nature Communications, they use technology to show how mechanical forces are processed at these anchoring points. more

The German Society for Cell Biology acknowledges each year outstanding cell biological research with the BINDER Innovation Prize. In 2018, the recognition goes to Carsten Grashoff from the MPI of Biochemistry for the development and application of methods allowing the quantitative analysis of mechanical forces in cells. The technique permits the investigation of mechanical processes under physiological conditions and has become a valuable tool to study the mechanobiology of cells and tissues. The prize giving ceremony will be held at the International Meeting of the German Society for Cell Biology in Leipzig on September 17, 2018. more

Proteins are often considered as molecular machines. To understand how they work, it is not enough to visualize the involved proteins under the microscope. Wherever machines are at work mechanical forces occur, which in turn influence biological processes. These extremely small intracellular forces can be measured with the help of molecular force sensors. Now researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried have developed molecular probes that can measure forces across multiple proteins with high resolution in cells. The results of their work were published in the journal Nature Methods. more

Just as we can feel whether we are lying on a soft blanket or hard rocks, our cells sense whether they are in a soft or rigid mechanical environment. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying cells’ ability to detect tissue stiffness are largely unknown. Mechanical forces acting across individual molecules in cells are extremely small and cannot be measured by conventional methods. Scientists of the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried have now developed a new technique to quantify forces of only a few piconewton in cells. As a result, the researchers were able to identify the central mechanism that allows cells to sense the rigidity of their environment. more

Carsten Grashoff, research group leader at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry (MPIB) in Martinsried, has been honored with the Early Career Award of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina for his work in the field of cellular mechanobiology. The award is endowed with 30,000 euros and is funded by the Commerzbank Foundation. Grashoff will accept the award at the Leopoldina annual meeting in Rostock on Friday, September 19, 2014, from Leopoldina President Prof. Dr. Jörg Hacker and Prof. Dr. Jan-Hendrik Olbertz, member of the Board of Trustees of the Commerzbank Foundation. more