Events Calendar

Alfred E.Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering - Seminar series

Speaker: Dr. Lidan You, Ph.D., Professor of Mechanical and Materials Engineering/Queen's University

Talk Title: Bone Mechanobiology On-a-Chip

Abstract: Bone has the remarkable ability to adapt its composition and structure to suit its mechanical environment. Osteocytes, bone cells embedded in the calcified matrix, are believed to be the mechanosensors and are responsible for orchestrating the bone remodeling process. However, the detailed cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying osteocyte mechanobiology are not well understood. Furthermore, how osteocytes communicate with other cell populations under mechanical loading remains unclear. Recently, several microfluidic platforms were developed to address these questions. In this talk, we will discuss intercellular communication between cell populations under mechanical loading and its implications in managing bone disorders such as bone metastasis prevention. Specifically, we studied the effects of vibration on breast cancer extravasation using our novel microfluidic co-culture platform. Our findings showed that vibration could reduce breast cancer migration by directly co-culturing osteocytes with cancer cells. Vibration also reduced trans-endothelial breast cancer migration (extravasation), suggesting that it may inhibit the early stages of bone metastasis. Additionally, we demonstrated that ZA, the standard treatment for osteolytic bone metastasis, could decrease breast cancer extravasation, and the effect was further enhanced under vibration. This is the first research that targets osteocyte-cancer interactions under vibration using an organ-on-chip system, which is an essential step toward developing a safe treatment for the high-risk population

Biography: Dr. You is a Tier 1 Canadian Research Chair in Cell Mechanics and Mechanobiology, and a Professor of Mechanical and Materials Engineering (MME) at Queen’s University. She earned her Ph.D. from the City University of New York and completed her postdoctoral training at Stanford University. Dr. You joined the MME at Queen’s University in 2024. Prior to joining MME, she held cross-appointed positions at the University of Toronto as the Erwin Edward Hart Professor in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering and as a Professor in the Institute of Biomedical Engineering. Dr. You has received numerous awards and recognitions, including the Early Researcher Award from the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation, the Duggan Medal from the Canadian Society of Mechanical Engineering, and has been elected a Fellow of both the Canadian Society of Mechanical Engineering (CSME) and the American Society of Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR). She has been serving on grant review panels, including those for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) (SBSR), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) (BME, CIB), and Arthritis Society Canada (Innovation, Strategic Operating). Additionally, Dr. You have been a faculty mentor for the Young Investigator Initiative (YII) Workshop, organized by the United States Bone and Joint Initiative (USBJI), since 2017, where she supports and guides early-career investigators in musculoskeletal research.Her research focuses on solving biomechanical questions in the musculoskeletal system at the cellular level. Specifically, her team is working on understanding the anti-resorptive effect of mechanical loading on bone tissue, investigating breast cancer bone metastasis and prostate cancer bone metastasis, studying osteocyte mechanosensitivity in diabetic conditions, and developing advanced microfluidic systems for bone cell mechanotransduction studies.

Host: Peter Wang

Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 109

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Carla Stanard