Cell adhesion to the extracellular matrix is mediated by the integrin family of adhesion receptors. Integrin receptor engagement initiates the formation of multimolecular protein complexes, termed integrin adhesion complexes (IACs), at the cell membrane. IACs are complex signall…
Bilateral breast augmentation is one of the most common cosmetic surgical procedures carried out on women in the western world. Breast augmentation involves increasing the volume of a woman‘s breasts through surgery by placing a silicone implant in the subglandular or subpectora…
The aim of this thesis was to investigate morphogenesis in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster using three in vitro tissue culture systems. Primary embryonic cultures derived from Drosophila melanogaster were used to study the effect of the moulting hormone ecdysone on cells i…
Cells interact with both tethered and motile ligands in their extra-cellular environment, which mediates, initiates and regulates a series of cellular functions, such as cell adhesion, migration, morphology, proliferation, apoptosis, bi-directional signal transduction, tissue ho…
A class of model substrates that modulate the dynamic environment for a variety of cell adhesion and migration experiments was developed. The substrate is based on an electrochemically switchable self-assembled monolayer that presents redox active hydroquinone groups. In the pre…
Cell adhesion, polarization, and migration are vital to numerous biological phenomena. Therefore, a greater understanding of the mechanisms of these processes will have broad impacts in fields ranging from developmental biology to medicine. This work has focused on developing a …