New directions in 2D and 3D bionanomaterials: immunology, mechanobiology, cancer

The symposium will focus on nanoscale materials and devices applied to immunology, mechanobiology, and cancer research. It will produce a highly interdisciplinary forum for researchers working at the interface between materials science and life science, through a balance between fundamental science and biomedical applications.

More information on the symposium: https://marksc37.wixsite.com/nanobiowarsaw

Keynote Speakers:

• Benoit Ladoux, Institut Jacques Monod
• Joachim Spatz, Max Planck Inst. for Medical Research and Heidelberg Univ
• Jonathan Schneck, Johns Hopkins University

Invited Speakers:

• Nicolas Voelcker, Monash University
• Ana Suncana Smith, Erlangen University
• Christelle Prinz , Lund University
• Eva Sevcsik, Vienna Univ. of Technology
• Nikolaj Gadegaard, University of Glasgow
• Ada Cavalcanti – Adam, University of Bayreuth 
• Ana Teixeira, Karolinska Institute
• Enrico Klotzsch, ETH Zurich
• Haguy Wolfenson ,Technion
• Ciro Chiappini, King's College London
• Katelyn Spillane, King's College London
• Ayelet Lesman, Tel-Aviv University
• Cornelia Lee-Thedieck, Leibniz University Hannover
• Oskar Staufer, Leibniz Inst. New Materials
• Joshua Grolman, Technion
• Barbara Blanco Fernandez, Univ. of Santiago de Compostela
• Angelo Accardo, Delft University of Technology
• Leeya Engel, Technion
• Judit Morla, Mount Sinai Hospital

Scope:

The extracellular environment's complexity, diversity, and multifaceted nature are key challenges for the mechanistic and systematic study of cell signaling. To shed light on these challenges, smart bionanomimetic materials can be engineered to generate controlled environmental cues for cell stimulation. These cues are diverse, and can include patterned extracellular ligands, micro-/nano-topographies, or mechano-stimulating structures.  Thus, materials can provide important insights into mechanisms related to cell function, such as cancer invasiveness and metastasis, as well as the immune system. This understanding is not only fundamentally important, but also essential for the design of new immunotherapies against cancer.

The symposium will focus on the new design and fabrication approaches for materials and devices used for the ex-vivo regulation and study of cells. These approaches can include, for instance, nanopatterning of extracellular stimulating molecules by traditional top-down and bottom-up nanolithography and unconventional approaches such as DNA origami; fabrication of cell-stimulating nano-topographies; synthesis of novel biopolymers for the controlled mechano-stimulation of cells, and chemical approaches to functionalize the materials surface with bioactive molecules. At the same time, the symposium will also focus on applying the existing materials approaches to new avenues in cell biology and biomedicine, especially those related to cancer, which includes addressing fundamental biological questions and providing new tools such as organoids for drug design and tissue engineering.

Hot topics to be covered by the symposium: 

• Materials-based artificial niches for the study of immune cell signaling
• Materials for immune cell culture for immunotherapy
• Materials and devices to study the forces in the immune synapse and T cell mechano-sensing
• Materials for the study of (metastatic) cancer, including organoids
• Materials for the study of cell-cell and cell-matrix adhesion
• Materials for the mechanobiology research, including 3D scaffolds
• Nanomaterials for the controlled cell culturing and high throughput single-cell imaging
• Theoretical models for the cell-environment mechanical interaction
• Nanomaterials and devices to study the role of the transmembrane receptor organization in the signal propagation