Unravelling the Mechanics of Cells
22 June 2010
"In targeting EphA2, one of the biggest problem in saving people's lives is being addressed: the spreading of cancer (metastasis). EphA2 is involved in cancer metastasis, so our discoveries suggest possible new ways to stop this."
Assoc Prof Jay Groves, Overseas Principal Investigator at the Mechanobiology Research Centre of Excellence (RCE), NUS. He is also Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator with the Department of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley.
CELL MECHANICS: Assoc Prof Jay Groves, Overseas Principal Investigator at the Mechanobiology Research Centre of Excellence at NUS, discovered that the protein signalling complex EphA2 senses mechanical force
Mechanobiology, or the way cells sense and respond to mechanical forces, is offering a new way of studying cells. Overseas Principal Investigator at the Mechanobiology Research Centre of Excellence (RCE), NUS, Assoc Prof Jay Groves found through his research that the protein signalling complex EphA2 will be altered when a direct physical force is applied to it. EphA2 plays a key role in cancer metastasis or the spread of a cancer from the original tumour to other parts of the body by means of tiny clumps of cells transported by the blood or lymph. The research work was published in the prestigious Science journal on 12 March 2010.
"Most previous work on EphA2 was chemical in nature. We discovered that the EphA2 receptor senses mechanical force. This is not only new for EphA2 receptor, but new for all receptors in the entire class," said Assoc Prof Groves, who is also Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator with the Department of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley.
On the implications of this discovery, Assoc Prof Groves noted: "In targeting EphA2, one of the biggest problem in saving people's lives is being addressed: the spreading of cancer (metastasis). EphA2 is involved in cancer metastasis, so our discoveries suggest possible new ways to stop this." In fact, Assoc Prof Groves said that metastasis is a very good place for therapeutic intervention as the outcome of the patient's prognosis can be changed.
While the research on EphA2 was carried out by scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, the RCE also played a part in advancing the research project. Scientists at the RCE helped develop ideas in the research paper through many formal presentations and many more informal discussions, and the nanofabrication services provided by the RCE and the Institute of Materials Research & Engineering (IMRE) also contributed majorly to their success.
"As can be seen clearly from the paper, nanofabrication is a key component of our technical strategy. This is extremely unusual for cell biology projects, but it is also a theme within the RCE. Therefore, I have been able to join forces with other RCE scientists to fabricate specialised substrates that are essential to the unique style of 'spatial mutation' experiment we used as the primary method in this work," said Assoc Prof Groves.
Moving forward, Assoc Prof Groves plans to focus on how EphA2 senses force. He shared: "We will specifically take advantage of strong nanofabrication facilities here in Singapore at IMRE, in conjunction with strong intellectual talent and imaging capabilities in the RCE to tackle this difficult question. Good science does not happen in isolation, and these projects will be well integrated with my other projects back in Berkeley and our extensive network of collaborators around the world."