Motility of Amoeboid Cells and Protocells

Wednesday, November 8, 2023

4:00 PM-5:30 PM

BIOMED Seminar

CLICK HERE TO ATTEND VIA ZOOM

Title:
Motility of Amoeboid Cells and Protocells

Speaker:
Daniel A. Hammer, PhD
Alfred G. and Meta A. Ennis Professor of Bioengineering
Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Director of the Center for Precision Engineering for Health (CPE4H)
School of Engineering and Applied Science
University of Pennsylvania

Details:
Motility is critical for the functioning of the immune system. Immune cells must often come in contact to transmit molecular information. We have used traction microscopies to understand the magnitude and organization of forces for a number of different motile immune cells, including neutrophils, dendritic cells, and macrophages, and illustrate how each cell has its own mode of motility.

T-cells, in particular, display a curious phenomenon of upstream migration under hydrodynamic flow. We are working to understand why T-cell migrate upstream and what molecular machinery within these cells is responsible for upstream migration. Finally, we describe our efforts to make synthetic cells and capsules whose motility is driven by enzymatic activity.

Biosketch:
Daniel A. Hammer, PhD, is the Alfred G. and Meta A. Ennis Professor of Bioengineering, and Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. He is also the Inaugural Director of the Center for Precision Engineering for Health (CPE4H) at Penn.

Dr. Hammer was an NSF Presidential Young Investigator in 1989 and in 2006 he was the BMES Distinguished Lecturer (now known as the Pritzker Distinguished Lecturer). He has graduated 56 PhD students and won the Penn Provost Award for PhD Mentoring and Teaching in 2018.

Contact Information

Lisa Williams
ltw22@drexel.edu