Publication date: 25th July 2016
The fluid surrounding cells in vivo is densely crowded with soluble macromolecules, however this is poorly mimicked by in vitro cell culture experiments. Significant work in the field of biophysics has shown that macromolecular crowding has profound and complex effects on interactions between molecules, impacting protein conformation, supramolecular assembly, diffusion, and binding interactions. Since the function of cells in our body depends entirely on molecular interactions, it easily follows that crowding should impact cell functions too. Though the tissue engineering community has shown that the addition of crowding agents into cell culture media significantly enhances self-assembly of extracellular matrix, there is very little understanding of how macromolecular crowding directly interacts with cells to alter their function. We have found that adding neutral, inert macromolecules to primary human fibroblast culture significantly reduces proliferation within 24 hours. This effect develops slowly, lasts for several days, is dose dependent, and is partially reversible upon removal of the crowding agents. Further analysis of cell morphology has shown little change in cell and nuclear geometry, cytoskeletal architecture, and cell volume, suggesting that macromolecular crowding impacts the cell through molecular signaling pathways rather than significant mechanical changes to the cell. Consistent with previous literature, the introduction of macromolecular crowding in our system enhances cell production of fibronectin and collagen. As the extracellular matrix is known to impact cell proliferation, we propose a complex system whereby crowding effects the proliferation behavior directly through molecular interactions at the membrane and indirectly through the matrix. Since most cells are known to be quiescent in vivo, this observed state of reduced proliferation is very relevant to normal biology. Our developing understanding will lend insights into the role of extracellular crowding in vivo and may show that adding artificial crowders to cell culture is a simple way to better recapitulate in vivo biology using in vitro approaches.
nanoGe is a prestigious brand of successful science conferences that are developed along the year in different areas of the world since 2009. Our worldwide conferences cover cutting-edge materials topics like perovskite solar cells, photovoltaics, optoelectronics, solar fuel conversion, surface science, catalysis and two-dimensional materials, among many others.
nanoGe Fall Meeting (NFM) is a multiple symposia conference celebrated yearly and focused on a broad set of topics of advanced materials preparation, their fundamental properties, and their applications, in fields such as renewable energy, photovoltaics, lighting, semiconductor quantum dots, 2-D materials synthesis, charge carriers dynamics, microscopy and spectroscopy semiconductors fundamentals, etc.
This conference is a unique series of symposia focused on advanced materials preparation and fundamental properties and their applications, in fields such as renewable energy (photovoltaics, batteries), lighting, semiconductor quantum dots, 2-D materials synthesis and semiconductors fundamentals, bioimaging, etc.
International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics
International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics (HOPV) is celebrated yearly in May. The main topics are the development, function and modeling of materials and devices for hybrid and organic solar cells. The field is now dominated by perovskite solar cells but also other hybrid technologies, as organic solar cells, quantum dot solar cells, and dye-sensitized solar cells and their integration into devices for photoelectrochemical solar fuel production.
Asia-Pacific International Conference on Perovskite, Organic Photovoltaics and Optoelectronics
The main topics of the Asia-Pacific International Conference on Perovskite, Organic Photovoltaics and Optoelectronics (IPEROP) are discussed every year in Asia-Pacific for gathering the recent advances in the fields of material preparation, modeling and fabrication of perovskite and hybrid and organic materials. Photovoltaic devices are analyzed from fundamental physics and materials properties to a broad set of applications. The conference also covers the developments of perovskite optoelectronics, including light-emitting diodes, lasers, optical devices, nanophotonics, nonlinear optical properties, colloidal nanostructures, photophysics and light-matter coupling.
The International Conference on Perovskite Thin Film Photovoltaics Perovskite Photonics and Optoelectronics (NIPHO) is the best place to hear the latest developments in perovskite solar cells as well as on recent advances in the fields of perovskite light-emitting diodes, lasers, optical devices, nanophotonics, nonlinear optical properties, colloidal nanostructures, photophysics and light-matter coupling.