Abstract
In a healthy blood vessel, endothelial cells dynamically integrate biomechanical and biochemical signals from the flowing blood at their apical surface and the basement membrane at their basolateral surface. In disease, changes in the biochemical environment may disturb endothelial cell response to mechanical forces, and the mechanical environment may affect biochemical kinetics. In this talk, I will present our research demonstrating that altered blood glucose, such as that experienced by people with diabetes, disturbs endothelial cell mechanotransduction in response to shear stress and cyclic strain. I will also describe how substrate stiffness impacts endothelial cell response to inflammatory stimuli and collective migration. Our research highlights how interrelated changes in glucose and flow may accelerate atherosclerotic plaque development and disordered angiogenesis in people with diabetes.
Biography
Alisa Morss Clyne is currently an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, with a courtesy appointment in the School of Biomedical Engineering, Science, and Health Systems, at Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA. Dr. Clyne is director of the Vascular Kinetics Laboratory, which investigates integrated mechanical and biochemical interactions among cells and proteins of the cardiovascular system. She is particularly interested in how endothelial cell mechanotransduction changes in a diseased environment, and how fluid shear stress and substrate mechanics affect biochemical binding kinetics, transport, and signaling.
Dr. Clyne received her bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University in 1996. She worked as an engineer in the GE Aircraft Engines Technical Leadership Program for four years, concurrently earning her Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Cincinnati. In 2006, she received her Doctorate in Medical and Mechanical Engineering from the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology.
Dr. Clyne has received research and educational funding from NSF, NIH, AHA, Department of Education, the Nanotechnology Institute, and the State of Pennsylvania. She is a member of ASEE, ASME, BMES, IEEE-EMBC, Sigma Xi, and SWE. Her teaching focuses on mechanical engineering applications in biological systems, and she founded several programs to enhance diversity within engineering.