‘Mimicking Life with Light: Dynamic Light-Controlled Biomaterials’ will be the subject of the next Chemistry of Life Processes Institute Chalk Talk featuring Julia Kalow, PhD, Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Northwestern. The 45-minute program will take place online on May 12, 2021 at 3:00 p.m. Central Standard Time.
A 2021 Sloan Fellow of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Kalow was recognized as one of 128 early-career scholars who represent the most promising scientific researchers working today.
Historically, the cell culture experiments underlying biological understanding and drug candidate screening have been performed on flat, stiff plastic substrates. Mounting evidence suggests that these stiff, static culture substrates only widen the gap between in vitro and in vivo assays.
The extracellular matrix (ECM) surrounding cells in vivo is a complex, heterogeneous, and dynamic environment that exchanges biophysical and biochemical cues with cells. The Kalow lab has developed a synthetic polymer material (hydrogel) in which the stiffness can be reversibly tuned with different colors of visible light.
Currently, Kalow and team are exploring the application of these light-controlled hydrogels in cell culture and are interested in identifying physiologically relevant problems that involve reversible changes in matrix stiffness.