Heike Boehm, Ph.D.
- Position:
Group leader, Assistant to the Director
New Materials and Biosystems
Max Planck Institute for Metals Research (Stuttgart, Germany)
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Degrees:
Ph.D., Biophysics, Heidelberg University (Heidelberg, Germany)Dipl. Chem., Chemistry, Heidelberg University (Heidelberg, Germany)
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Past Advisors:
Joachim P. Spatz (as Graduate Student - Ph.D.)Juergen Wolfrum (as Graduate Student - Masters)
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Research:
Micromechanical Properties and Structure of the Pericellular Coat of Living Cells Modulated by Nanopatterned Substrates
I work on elucidating the structure and micromechanical properties of the pericellular coat. This highly hydrated layer composed of flexible hyaluronan polymers and proteins plays a vital role in cell proliferation, motility and embryogenesis. While the molecular interactions are intensivly studied, the micromechanical structure remains poorly understood. Therefore, we perform micro-rheological measurements within this layer on living chondrocytes (in cooperation with Jennifer Curtis, Georgia Tech, Atlanta). The obtained structural information is compared to measurements performed with confocal fluorescent microscopy (carried out in cooperation with Uwe Rauch, Lund University).
The project is benefiting tremendeously from Tabea Mundinger’s student project as well as from work carried out by Martin Etzrodt, Valentin Hagel and Daniel Barzan (all: University of Heidelberg).
Heike Boehm's Genealogy
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Heike Boehm's Publications (2)
One Figure
My main study object, the pericellular coat is an invisible sugar-protein layer here visualized on a chondrocyte cell.
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