Events

Date: 29 July 2025   Time: 12:00 - 13:00     

Location: SEMS Seminar Room, 3rd floor, Engineering Building

Title:

Understanding and modulating cell fate decisions mediated by cell-ECM interactions

Abstract:

Cellular interactions with the extracellular matrix (ECM) play a fundamental role in essential cell functions. The ECM provides mechanical and biochemical cues that influence intracellular signaling and gene expression, leading to different cell fate decisions. In this talk, I will share our latest research on how ECM cues influence cellular decision-making and explore how these processes can be modulated by altering cellular force generation or enzymatic remodeling of the ECM. I will also discuss how leveraging these mechanisms could offer new strategies to treat fibrosis—a widespread condition impacting nearly all tissues and contributing to approximately 35% of deaths in the Western world.

About the speaker:

Haguy Wolfenson is an Associate Professor at the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, where he is the newly appointed head of the Department of Genetics and Developmental Biology. He was awarded the David and Inez Mayers Career Advancement Chair in Life Sciences, and he leads an interdisciplinary team that investigates the dynamic processes underlying mechanotransduction in health and disease conditions.