Monte and Usha Ahuja Distinguished Lecture Series - Speaker: Roger Kamm, PhD, MIT

The lecture will be held at 3 p.m. in Scott Laboratory E001, followed by a reception at 4 p.m. in Scott Laboratory E100.

Title: In vitro vascular networks and their use in studies of metastatic cancer

Abstract

Circulating tumor cells form metastases by reaching a distant microcirculation, undergoing transendothelial migration, entering the remote tissue and proliferating.  Microfluidic assays have been developed to visualize and quantify this process within vascular networks that recapitulate the in vivo microcirculation.  Tumor cells, with or without accompanying immune cells, are streamed into the network, some fraction of which arrest and extravasate into the surrounding matrix. These studies provide detailed information on the ability of different tumor cell types to extravasate, the adhesion molecules they use, and the effects of various other cell types in the intravascular space, and the extracellular matrix.  The picture that is emerging is one in which tumor cells first loosely adhere to the endothelium, send out protrusions to probe the monolayer for openings in the cell-cell junctions. They then adhere to the basement membrane, and by means of actomyosin contractility, pull the cell body and nucleus through the gap. In this presentation, I will describe how the vascular networks are grown and characterized, and then used to explore the cell-cell interactions that enable the process of extravasation and tumor formation.

About the speaker

Roger D. Kamm is currently the Cecil and Ida Green Distinguished Professor of Biological and Mechanical Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he has served on the faculty since 1978. Kamm has long been instrumental in growing research activities at the interface of biology and mechanics, in molecular mechanics, and now in engineered living systems.  In education, he was a co-recipient of the Class of 1960 Award in 1999 and received the Everett Moore Baker Memorial Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. Student mentoring has been a high priority, and 35 of Kamm’s former students are now in faculty positions around the world. Kamm has fostered biomechanics as Chair of the US National Committee on Biomechanics (2006-2009) and of the World Council on Biomechanics (2006-2010).  He co-initiated a series of meetings on Frontiers of Biomechanics, chaired the ASME Summer Bioengineering Conference (2001), and organized a Summit of Experts on Biomechanics (2007) and a Workshop on Engineered Living Systems (2016). In 2014, Kamm co- chaired the World Congress of Biomechanics. He is the 2010 recipient of the ASME Lissner Medal and the 2015 recipient of the Huiskes Medal, and is a member of the National Academy of Medicine.

The Monte and Usha Ahuja Distinguished Lecture Series aims to attract highly accomplished and illustrious individuals, as well as those on their way to national and international renown. In addition to showcasing the work of current experts in the engineering field, this lecture series will inspire Ohio State students to achieve excellence and eminence in their own future careers in government, industry and academia. As honored and highly accomplished graduates of Ohio State, the Ahujas consider their charitable and philanthropic support of the university as an investment in the next generation of science, technology, engineering and mathematics trailblazers.