Abstract: The ability of cells to sense (mechanosensing) and respond (mechanotransduction) to mechanical cues within their local environment is essential for numerous fundamental cellular processes. Malfunctioning mechanosensing and mechanotransduction are linked to various diseases. Mechanosensing in cells involves the dynamic assembly of various tension-transmission supramolecular linkages, each composed of several non-covalently linked proteins. Cellular mechanosensing depends on sensing the dynamic tensile forces transmitted through these tension-transmission supramolecular linkages. Protein domains and protein-protein interfaces experience fluctuations in tensile forces, resulting in highly dynamic tension-dependent connectivity of the supramolecular linkages, conformational changes in the domains, and interactions between force-bearing proteins in the linkage and signalling proteins within the cytosol. In this talk, I will discuss the general biophysical principles of mechanosensing and mechanotransduction of cells, the recent single-molecule and theoretical investigations into these tension-dependent processes, and how the understanding of biophysical principles can be translated into potential pharmaceutical applications.

Bio：Dr. Yan Jie is a single-molecule biophysicist who earned his PhD from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2005. He currently holds the position of Full Professor in the Department of Physics and serves as a Principal Investigator at the Mechanobiology Institute at the National University of Singapore. There, he spearheads research in single-molecule studies, focusing on the micromechanics of DNA and proteins. His primary objective is to unravel the ways in which force-bearing proteins within cells can detect and react to mechanical forces and how these proteins can be targeted pharmaceutically. Dr. Yan's contributions to the field have been widely acknowledged; he has been elected as a Fellow of the American Physical Society and a Singapore NRF Investigator. Additionally, he has published over 130 papers and secured two patents.