The subject of a two-day conference at Northeastern University, mechanobiology brings scientists from biology, engineering and physics together to solve some of the thorniest problems in treating complex diseases.
Northeastern’s two-day Global Summit on Mechanobiology and Mechanomedicine March 6 and 7 brought scientists from different specialties together to solve some of the thorniest problems in treating complex cancers and other diseases.
Known as “the missing science,” mechanobiology finds ways biologists can partner with engineers and physicists to enhance human health and advance medicine, says Ning Wang, a professor of bioengineering and director of Northeastern’s Institute of Mechanobiology, which was created two years ago.
“It’s like two sides of the same coin,” Wang says. “If you just try to use chemistry and molecular biology to explain life, it is not enough.”
“Right now all the therapeutic treatments that we do don’t work well for complex diseases,” he says. The realization has led scientists to see the interplay between mechanical forces and biological function as a “missing piece,” Wang says.
“The question is how can you use mechanical biology to advance health and sciences? That’s what we’re doing now,” he says, adding that the FDA has approved some modalities in human subjects already.
“You wouldn’t know about this 20 years ago,” says Wang, who considers this summit at the ISEC building on the Boston campus the official launch of Northeastern’s Institute on Mechanobiology.
Mechanobiology can not only lead to more effective therapeutics but can also help prevent currently untreatable medical conditions.
“But we have to know more,” Wang says.
Northeastern speakers and panel discussion leaders included Wang; Jeffrey Ruberti, distinguished professor of bioengineering; Herbert Levine, university distinguished professor of physics and bioengineering; and Nikolai Slavov, founding director of Parallel Squared Technology Institute.
Also Wengong Jin, assistant professor of computer sciences; Amir Vahabikashi, assistant professor of bioengineering; Lei Wang, assistant professor of bioengineering and biology; and Hyeon Yu Kim, assistant professor of mechanical and industrial engineering and bioengineering.
They spoke on topics ranging from the physical barriers preventing T-cells from entering malignant tumors to coming up with engineering solutions to study hypertension via pumping functions inside heart chambers.
The Northeastern experts were joined by colleagues from the United Kingdom, China, Harvard, Yale and Washington universities, the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of California Los Angeles and MIT, among other institutions.