Abstract

Cells in multicellular organisms are exposed to local tissue microenvironments with various chemical and physical properties. Increasing evidence shows that these microenvironmental properties are a key regulator of cellular behavior by shaping their signaling cascades, gene expression, and functionality. In the first part of the talk, I will show novel discoveries on how the cellular microenvironment influences the integrity of intracellular organelles. In particular, we identify that the centrosome is susceptible to mechanical forces during cellular navigation, unravel underlying protective molecular pathways, and describe the detrimental consequences of centrosome breakage for the functionality of the microtubule cytoskeleton and for the motility of immune cells. In the second part of the talk, I will present new findings on how the sampling of the microenvironment is regulated by the properties of the microenvironment. Using macrophages as a cellular model highly active in microenvironmental sampling by macropinocytosis, we identified cellular adhesiveness to their local surrounding as an important regulator of macropinocytosis. Overall, these new findings show important principles of cell-matrix interplay and cytoskeleton regulation.