Directed cell migration is a physical process that requires dramatic changes in cell shape
and adhesion to the extracellular matrix. For efficient movement, these processes must be …

Actomyosin-mediated contractility is a highly conserved mechanism for generating mechanical
stress in animal cells and underlies muscle contraction, cell migration, cell division and …

Dynamic regulation of the filamentous actin (F-actin) cytoskeleton is critical to numerous
physical cellular processes, including cell adhesion, migration and division. Each of these …

Networks of cross-linked and bundled actin filaments are ubiquitous in the cellular cytoskeleton,
but their elasticity remains poorly understood. We show that these networks exhibit …

We study the thermal motion of colloidal tracer particles in entangled actin filament (F-actin)
networks, where the particle radius is comparable to the mesh size of the F-actin network. In …

Cell adhesion and migration crucially depend on the transmission of actomyosin-generated
forces through sites of focal adhesion to the extracellular matrix. Here we report …

Cells in tissues are mechanically coupled both to the ECM and neighboring cells, but the
coordination and interdependency of forces sustained at cell-ECM and cell–cell adhesions are …

How focal adhesions (FAs) convert retrograde filamentous actin (F-actin) flow into traction
stress on the extracellular matrix to drive cell migration is unknown. Using combined traction …

We show that actin filaments, shortened to physiological lengths by gelsolin and cross-linked
with recombinant human filamins (FLNs), exhibit dynamic elastic properties similar to those …

We measure the viscoelasticity of entangled F-actin over length scales between 1 and 100
μ m using one-and two-particle microrheology, and directly identify two distinct microscopic …