9^th October at 12:00
Onsite event
in Presidentti auditorium, BioCity
Autumn 2025 program

Prof. Pere Roca-Cusachs, University of Barcelona, Spain
Understanding and controlling mechanotransduction, from integrins to the nucleus

Host: Johanna Ivaska (johanna.ivaska@utu.fi)

Coffee and sandwich served at 11:45, first come first serve!

Six PhD researchers and early-career postdocs are welcome to have a lunch and discuss with Prof. Roca-Cusachs after the seminar. This is a great possibility to learn hosting skills in a friendly environment and create connections for future. Everyone is welcome to join, BioCity Turku will offer the lunch.

If you got interested, please send an email to biocityturku@bioscience.fi

Tissues in our body can be extremely soft such as breast or brain, or very stiff such as bone. Cells in our body constantly interact mechanically with such tissues, exerting, transmitting, withstanding, and detecting forces. This mechanical interaction with the environment regulates how cells proliferate, differentiate, and move, and regulates development, tumorigenesis or wound healing. Just like biochemical stimuli initiate signaling cascades, mechanical forces affect the links and conformation of a network of molecules connecting cells to the extracellular matrix. This molecular and cellular response to force constitutes the phenomenon of mechanotransduction. To study mechanotransduction, Roca-Cusachs lab combines biophysical techniques like magnetic and optical tweezers, Atomic Force Microscopy, traction microscopy, and microfabricated force sensors with molecular biology, advanced optical microscopy, and theoretical modelling.

Selected publications

Micro Immune Response On-chip (MIRO) models the tumour-stroma interface for immunotherapy testing. Perucca A, Llonín AG, Benach OM, Hallopeau C, Rivas EI, Linares J, …, Calon A, Labernadie A. Nat Commun. 2025 Feb 3;16(1):1279

N-cadherin crosstalk with integrin weakens the molecular clutch in response to surface viscosity. Barcelona-Estaje E, Oliva MAG, Cunniffe F, Rodrigo-Navarro A, Genever P, Dalby MJ, Roca-Cusachs P, Cantini M, Salmeron-Sanchez M. Nat Commun. 2024 Oct 12;15(1):8824

A mechanosensing mechanism controls plasma membrane shape homeostasis at the nanoscale. Quiroga X, Walani N, Disanza A, Chavero A, Mittens A, Tebar F, Trepat X, Parton RG, Geli MI, Scita G, Arroyo M, Le Roux AL, Roca-Cusachs P. Elife. 2023 Sep 25;12:e72316

The laminin-keratin link shields the nucleus from mechanical deformation and signalling. Kechagia Z, Sáez P, Gómez-González M, Canales B, Viswanadha S, Zamarbide M, Andreu I, Koorman T, Beedle AEM, Elosegui-Artola A, Derksen PWB, Trepat X, Arroyo M, Roca-Cusachs P. Nat Mater. 2023 Nov;22(11):1409-1420

General information

• You can download and save all the autumn 2025 FoS-seminars to your calendar from here: https://seafile.utu.fi/d/44a70f80ac1e46a9ad0a/
• Registration is not needed, participation list is circulated in the audience
• If you are a student and later wish to get a certificate of attendance from the Frontier of Science seminars, print out the seminar diary and after the seminar ask the BioCity coordinator to sign it https://seafile.utu.fi/d/44a70f80ac1e46a9ad0a/
• Please note that any audio or video recording of the seminars is strictly forbidden.
• Autumn 2025 image credits to Kari Kaunisto: Sahlberg family collections, Biodiversity unit, University of Turku