{"692476":{"#nid":"692476","#data":{"type":"event","title":"IBB Seminar","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.mbi.nus.edu.sg\/andrew-holle\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAndrew Holle\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAssistant Professor\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMechanobiology Institute\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ENational University of Singapore\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E*In-person-only event!\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EABSTRACT\u003Cbr\u003ECells migrating through tissues routinely encounter physical spaces smaller than themselves, requiring substantial deformation of both the cell and nucleus. Our laboratory is interested in how these mechanical experiences influence cell behavior, state, and fate across cancer, stem cell, and developmental systems. Using engineered microchannels, we have shown that adult stem cells can navigate highly confined spaces and that this process is accompanied by changes in differentiation-associated transcription factors and epigenetic state. We have also developed high-throughput porous confinement platforms that allow migrated cell populations to be isolated and subjected to downstream molecular profiling, providing a way to connect physical behavior with transcriptional and epigenomic changes at scale. More recently, we have extended these questions into development using primordial germ cells, which undergo striking nuclear deformation as they migrate through narrow interstitial spaces in vivo. Together, this work supports a broader view of confinement not simply as a barrier to migration, but as a potentially instructive mechanical signal that helps shape cellular identity and maturation.\u003Cbr\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003EBIO\u003Cbr\u003EAndrew Holle received a Bachelor of Science, Engineering (B.S.E) from Arizona State University, where he worked in labs of Christine Pauken and Deirdre Meldrum. He then received his Ph.D. at the University of California, San Diego, where he worked in Adam Engler\u2019s Stem Cell Biology and Bioengineering group. There, he identified the mechanosensitive role of the focal adhesion protein vinculin in substrate stiffness-induced stem cell differentiation. Looking to explore the commonalities between stem cell and cancer mechanobiology, he then joined Prof. Joachim Spatz\u2019s Cellular Biophysics group at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research (Stuttgart, Germany). There, he used photolithography and microfluidics to build microchannel assays to better characterize cancer cell invasion and migration in confinement. His Confinement Mechanobiology lab at the Mechanobiology Institute and in the NUS Biomedical Engineering department focuses on the role of confinement in mechanobiology, with an emphasis on novel strategies for controlling stem cell differentiation.\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jennifer.curtis@physics.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJennifer Curtis\u003C\/a\u003E - faculty host\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Confinement Mechanobiology: How Physical Microenvironments Shape Cell Migration, State, and Fate\u0022 - Andrew Holle, National University of Singapore\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"\u0022Confinement Mechanobiology: How Physical Microenvironments Shape Cell Migration, State, and Fate\u0022 - Andrew Holle, National University of Singapore "}],"uid":"27195","created_gmt":"2026-09-09 21:31:19","changed_gmt":"2026-09-11 14:38:35","author":"Colly Mitchell","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","field_event_time":{"event_time_start":"2026-10-20T11:00:00-04:00","event_time_end":"2026-10-20T12:00:00-04:00","event_time_end_last":"2026-10-20T12:00:00-04:00","gmt_time_start":"2026-10-20 15:00:00","gmt_time_end":"2026-10-20 16:00:00","gmt_time_end_last":"2026-10-20 16:00:00","rrule":null,"timezone":"America\/New_York"},"location":"Petit Biotechnology Building (IBB), 315 Ferst Drive NW, Suddath Seminar Room 1128, Atlanta, GA 30332","extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"},{"id":"1254","name":"Wallace H. Coulter Dept. of Biomedical Engineering"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"},{"id":"189814","name":"go-researchevents"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[{"id":"1795","name":"Seminar\/Lecture\/Colloquium"}],"invited_audience":[{"id":"194945","name":"Alumni"},{"id":"78761","name":"Faculty\/Staff"},{"id":"177814","name":"Postdoc"},{"id":"78771","name":"Public"},{"id":"174045","name":"Graduate students"},{"id":"78751","name":"Undergraduate students"}],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:connect@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Econnect@ibb.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}