title: Multiscale mechanobiology: computational models for integrating molecules to multicellular systems.
abstract: Mechanical signals exist throughout the biological landscape. Across all scales, these signals, in the form of force, stiffness, and deformations, are generated and processed, resulting in an active mechanobiological circuit that controls many fundamental aspects of life, from protein unfolding and cytoskeletal remodeling to collective cell motions. The multiple scales and complex feedback involved present a challenge for fully understanding the nature of this circuit, particularly in development and disease in which it has been implicated. Computational models that accurately predict and are based on experimental data enable a means to integrate basic principles and explore fine details of mechanosensing and mechanotransduction in and across all levels of biological systems. Here we review recent advances in these models along with supporting and emerging experimental findings.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA. rdkamm@mit.edu.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mak
authors.forename: Taeyoon
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Muhammad H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Zaman
authors.forename: Roger D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Kamm
mesh_terms: D008841:Actin Cytoskeleton / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D001703:Biophysics; D002450:Cell Communication / Q000502:physiology; D003198:Computer Simulation; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D040542:Mechanotransduction, Cellular; D008954:Models, Biological; D056004:Molecular Dynamics Simulation; D020409:Molecular Motor Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D049490:Systems Biology
chemical_list: D020409:Molecular Motor Proteins