ppGpp is a bacterial cell size regulator

Growth and division are central to cell size. Bacteria achieve size homeostasis by dividing when growth has added a constant size since birth, termed the adder principle, by unknown mechanisms.¹^,² Growth is well known to be regulated by guanosine tetraphosphate (ppGpp), which controls diverse processes from...

Microfluidics meets 3D cancer cell migration

An early step of metastasis requires a complex and coordinated migration of invasive tumor cells into the surrounding tumor microenvironment (TME), which contains extracellular matrix (ECM). It is being appreciated that 3D matrix-based microfluidic models have an advantage over conventional in vitro and animal models to study tumor...

The role of ppGpp in E. coli cell size control

Bacteria have been an integral part of human life since the ancient times either as cooperative tenants living in and around us or as constant threats to our health and wellbeing. Since prehistoric times we unknowingly used them as tools of fermentation and fought against them with haphazardly discovered natural remedies. Today, after more than...

On-chip reconstitution of an FtsZ-based divisome for synthetic cells

Cell replication is a fascinating biological process that ensures the proliferation of a species via division of a mother cell into two daughter ones. This process in bacteria is performed by a complex protein machinery named the Z-ring, which assembles at the cell mid-plane and promotes progressive membrane constriction down to division. A...

Organ-on-Chip In Development: Towards a roadmap for Organs-on-Chip

Organ-on-Chip is considered a potentially game-changing technology born from the convergence of tissue engineering and microfluidic technology. Organ-on-Chip devices (OoCs) are expected to offer effective solutions to persisting problems in drug development and personalized disease treatments. This opinion paper surveys the current landscape in...

Self-orienting hydrogel micro-buckets as novel cell carriers

Hydrogel microparticles are important in materials engineering, but their applications remain limited owing to the difficulties associated with their manipulation. Herein, we report the self-orientation of crescent-shaped hydrogel microparticles and elucidate its mechanism. Additionally, the microparticles were used, for the first time, as...

Shape and Size Control of Artificial Cells for Bottom-Up Biology

Bottom-up biology is an expanding research field that aims to understand the mechanisms underlying biological processes via in vitro assembly of their essential components in synthetic cells. As encapsulation and controlled manipulation of these elements is a crucial step in the recreation of such cell-like objects, microfluidics is...

Membrane Tension–Mediated Growth of Liposomes

Recent years have seen a tremendous interest in the bottom-up reconstitution of minimal biomolecular systems, with the ultimate aim of creating an autonomous synthetic cell. One of the universal features of living systems is cell growth, where the cell membrane expands through the incorporation of newly synthesized lipid molecules. Here, the...

Mechanical Division of Cell-Sized Liposomes

Liposomes, self-assembled vesicles with a lipid-bilayer boundary similar to cell membranes, are extensively used in both fundamental and applied sciences. Manipulation of their physical properties, such as growth and division, may significantly expand their use as model systems in cellular and synthetic biology. Several approaches have been...

Challenging the stress: A single-cell study of the Dps response

Spatial organization in nano-sculptured bacteria, a tale of shape, scale, patterns, and genomes

One of the most basic features that pervade biology is the existence of boundaries that separate living cells from their outer environments. Molecules responsible for the internal organization of a living cell must adapt to its boundaries, as the cell grows, divides, and changes in shape and size. In this thesis, we aim to understand how...