BIOE 598 The Tissue Microenvironment:
Offered in Fall, focuses on advanced concepts of the complexity and heterogeneity of tissue microenvironments and their role in directing cell behavior and function in health and disease. Emphasis on comparing and contrasting the physio-chemical rate processes that govern the function of stem cell niches and solid tumor microenvironments. Topics include: (i) Cell migration, mitosis, differentiation and apoptosis; (ii) Cellular responsiveness to soluble and immobilized factors that mediate interactions between cells, with extracellular matrix, and growth factor communication; (iii) Biophysical and bioengineering aspects of mechanotransduction, the process through which living cells sense and respond to their mechanical environment.