Traction forces of cancer cells

Cell motility of cancer cells is a fundamental problem, and requires precise correlation between cell adhesive and rheological properties. The migration of cancer cells is studied in two dimensions, as cells are seeded onto functionnalized polyacrylamide gels. They migrate by developping focal adhesion sites and modulate their cytoskeleton dynamics by regulating actin and myosin. This research aims at understanding the forces developped by different cancer cells of moderate to high invasiveness in order to investigate their contractility as well as the adhesion molecules necessary for cell migration.