Programme - 6th International Society for Mechanobiology

The final programme will be made available ahead of the event.

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Session Overviews

Monday afternoon - Mechanobiology in Disease and Mechanomedicine: This session will explore the critical role of mechanical forces in cellular function, tissue dynamics, and disease progression. Topics will include how mechanical cues contribute to cancer metastasis, fibrosis, and cardiovascular diseases, as well as recent advances in technologies for probing cellular mechanics. The session will also highlight translational research, showcasing emerging strategies in mechanomedicine such as the development of mechano-therapeutics and biomaterials designed to modulate mechanical environments for improved treatment outcomes. Attendees will gain insights into the latest discoveries and future directions in harnessing mechanobiology for disease diagnosis and therapy.

Tuesday morning - Advanced Tools for Multiscale Mechanobiology: Mechanobiology relies on increasingly sophisticated tools to explore how physical forces shape biological systems across scales. This session highlights emerging optical and biophysical technologies, including advances in Brillouin microscopy, that enable non-invasive characterization of mechanical properties from single cells to tissues. Together, these approaches are expanding the experimental and analytical toolkit needed to connect molecular mechanics with complex physiological behavior.

Tuesday afternoon (programme 1) - Nuclear Mechanobiology: This session will examine the molecular and biophysical mechanisms by which mechanical cues regulate nuclear structure and function. We will discuss advances in imaging, modelling, and perturbation tools to study nuclear mechanotransduction. Topics include force transmission to the nucleus, chromatin remodelling, and nuclear mechanopathologies.

Tuesday afternoon (programme 2) - Immunomechanobiology: This session will explore the intersection of mechanobiology and immunology, highlighting how mechanical forces, matrix properties, and tissue topography shape immune cell behaviour and inflammatory responses. Speakers will showcase cutting-edge research uncovering how immune cells sense and respond to their physical environment, with implications for autoimmunity, infection, fibrosis, and cancer. By bridging biomechanics and immunology, the session aims to spark interdisciplinary dialogue and inspire new strategies to modulate immunity.

Wednesday morning - Cell Mechanics Across Length Scales: Cellular mechanobiology has emerged as a central driver of health and disease. Yet a key challenge remains: bridging the gap from nanoscale molecular forces to tissue- and organism-level mechanics, and unravelling how these interconnected processes govern biological function. This session highlights cutting-edge research that systematically tackles the broader picture of mechanobiological complexity across different length scales, including experimental, bioengineering, computational, therapeutical and translational approaches.

Wednesday afternoon (programme 1) - Mechanochemistry: The session will explore how molecular structure dictates function in mechanoresponsive molecules and materials. It will present design strategies for creating force-activated biomolecules and precisely engineered biomimetic materials. Building on advances in molecular engineering, the session will highlight how new molecular building blocks can be applied to probe and control force-dependent processes and to develop the next generation of functional materials for tissue engineering.

Wednesday afternoon (programme 2) - Mechanobiology of Ageing: This session will explore how mechanical forces of cell microenvironments and tissues influence cellular ageing and age-related pathologies. We will integrate insights from mechanobiology, senescence research and tissue engineering to discuss how mechanical cues contribute to the decline in cellular function over time. Speakers will highlight recent advances in understanding how aged cells respond to mechanical stress, the role of the extracellular matrix in ageing, and potential therapeutic strategies to mitigate mechano-driven degeneration.

Wednesday afternoon (programme 3) - Mechanobiology of Development and Tissue Engineering: This session will explore how mechanical forces shape biological systems, from embryonic development to the design of functional engineered tissues. We will examine how mechanical processes interact with gene regulatory networks to ensure robust morphogenesis, and how mechanical feedback mechanisms guide tissue formation and function. New experimental strategies and theoretical models for dissecting the role of physical forces in development will be discussed, recognising that computational approaches have provided insights not achievable through experimentation alone. Building on these fundamental principles, the session will showcase how mechanobiological insights have transformed tissue engineering, enabling the development of next-generation instructive biomaterials. By highlighting cutting-edge research spanning the manipulation of dynamic mechanical properties in the cellular microenvironment to the application of controlled mechanical signals, this session will demonstrate how understanding the physical regulation of cell behaviour and tissue development has opened new avenues for designing functional engineered tissues.  

Thursday morning (programme 1) - Sonomechanobiology: Sonomechanobiology is a new field that explores the use of dynamic mechanostimulation at ultrasonic frequencies (>20 kHz) to influence cell processes. This session constitutes a forum to disseminate advances in all aspects at the interface of mechanobiology, acoustics, biophysics and bioengineering, from fundamental cellular and nuclear mechanotransduction mechanisms to the application of such high frequency mechanostimuli for cell and tissue engineering.

Thursday morning (programme 2) - In vivo Mechanobiology: This session will examine how mechanical forces regulate cellular behaviour and tissue function within the complex physiological environment of living organisms. Moving beyond reductionist in vitro approaches, we will explore how cells sense and respond to mechanical cues in their native context, where multiple physical signals, including tissue stiffness, interstitial fluid flow, and dynamic mechanical loading, act in concert. The session will highlight advances in imaging and measurement technologies that now enable the quantification of mechanical forces and material properties within living tissues, as well as genetic and pharmacological tools for manipulating mechanotransduction pathways in vivo. By showcasing research spanning diverse physiological and pathological contexts, from organ homeostasis and regeneration to the progression of diseases such as fibrosis and cancer, this session will demonstrate how in vivo studies are reshaping our understanding of mechanobiology and revealing therapeutic opportunities that emerge only when mechanical signalling is studied within its full biological complexity.

Thursday morning (programme 3) - ECM Mechanobiology in Physiology and Disease: The session will explore how the extracellular matrix (ECM) regulates cell behaviour, particularly focusing on its biophysical and spatiotemporal properties.Speakers will highlight cutting-edge approaches to measure and manipulate ECM mechanics, composition, and architecture in both living models and in vitro biomaterial systems. Topics will span healthy tissue function to pathological remodeluing, emphasising the bidirectional feedback between cells and their microenvironment. Together, these talks will illustrate how ECM mechanobiology offers new insights into disease mechanisms and therapeutic strategies.