Neurophotonics and Mechanical Systems Biology
Prof. Dr. Michael Krieg
- Activities:
Our main research goal is to understand the importance of cell mechanical properties for health and disease on the molecular and systems level. Mechanical forces are ubiquitous signals that provide information about our environments and our own body during touch and as we walk, breathe, and fall in love. Although failures to sense and cope with mechanical forces are linked to human diseases including peripheral neuropathies and neurodegenerative disorders, little is known about the connections between biomechanics and disease. One reason for this gap is the technical challenge of detecting forces and the deformations resulting from them within a living cell or organism. To fill this gap and advance our understanding, we develop and deploy new optogenetic tools (FRET, synthetic biology) in vivo and optical tweezers in vitro to measure piconewton force and their consequences inside cells. From these data and informed by theoretical predictions, we derive insight and mechanistic understanding of how changes in protein and cell mechanics contribute to pathological transformations in mechanosensation and protection.
Due to the wealth of genetic tools available for it, we use the small round worm, Caenorhabditis elegans, with its compact nervous system consisting of only 302 neurons, its short lifespan and simple body plan, as a model. We exploit microfluidic and nanotechnological tools to apply precise forces to single cells or animals with the aim to visualize mechanical forces and their consequences as the animals crawl, feel and become old. In addition, we strive to assemble synthetic and synesthetic circuit based on second generation optogenetic tools. To achieve these goals, we built dedicated imaging systems for photon starved samples and precision illumination of single synapses in vivo.
We are hiring: PhD-students in Neuronal Cell Biology. Please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for further information.
- Research Topics:
- Mechanical Stress In Neurodegeneration
- Engineering A Prosthetic Cellular Communication System
- Towards A Unifying Principle Of Mechanosensation
- Links:
- Group homepage
Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Neurophotonics and Mechanical Systems Biology
Prof. Dr. Michael Krieg
- Group Leader
- Prof. Dr. Michael Krieg
- Postdoctoral Researchers
- Dr. Frederic Català Castro
- Dr. Ravi Das
- Dr. Malak Y. El-Quessny
- Dr. Adriana González
- Dr. Shadi Karimi
- Dr. Carmen Martínez Fernández
- Dr. Aleksandra Pidde
- Dr. Montserrat Porta
- PhD Students
- Costanza Agazzi
- Lynn Lin
- Nawaphat Malaiwong
- Luis Felipe Morales
- Santiago Ortiz Vásquez
- Neus Sanfeliu
- Undergrad & Postgrad Students
- Eric Torralba Sales
- Former Group Members
- Marta Dies, Postdoctoral researcher
- Tihomir Georgiev, Postdoctoral researcher
- Martina Rita Mocera, PhD student
- Sara de Vicentiis, Visiting PhD student
Neurophotonics and Mechanical Systems Biology
Prof. Dr. Michael Krieg
- Regular Papers
- An asymmetric mechanical code ciphers curvature-dependent proprioceptor activity Sci. Adv. 7, (2021)
- The nucleus measures shape changes for cellular proprioception to control dynamic cell behavior Science 370, eaba2644 (2020) Highlighted in Science
- Cortical anchoring of the microtubule cytoskeleton is essential for neuron polarity eLife 9, e55111 (2020)
- Neuronal stretch reception – Making sense of the mechanosense Experimental Cell Research 378, 104-112 (2019)
- Direction selectivity in drosophila proprioceptors requires the mechanosensory channel Tmc Current Biology 29, 945-956.e3 (2019)
- Rationally designed azobenzene photoswitches for efficient two-photon neuronal excitation Nature Commun. 10, 907 (2019)
- Atomic force microscopy-based mechanobiology Nat. Rev. Phys. 1, 51-57 (2018)
- Genetic defects in ß-spectrin and tau sensitize C. elegans axons to movement-induced damage via torque-tension coupling eLife 6, (2017)
- Pneumatic stimulation of C. elegans mechanoreceptor neurons in a microfluidic trap Lab Chip 17, 1116-1127 (2017)
Neurophotonics and Mechanical Systems Biology
Prof. Dr. Michael Krieg
- 2021-10-04 Self-movement and body position of the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans In a new study published in the journal Science Advances, ICFO researchers at the Neurophotonics and Mechanical Systems Biology group investigate the mechanics, molecules, and neurons that govern the locomotion of the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans.
- 2020-10-16 When feeling the pinch, nuclei instigate cells to escape crowded spaces Scientists from CRG, ICFO, FH OÖ and UPF report on this new finding in a study published in the journal Science.
- 2018-11-21 A Review on Mechanobiology in Nature Reviews in Physics The review presented by ICFO Prof. Michael Krieg, in collaboration with an international team of researchers, provides an in-depth view and current status of the field of study
- 2017-05-17 NEW GROUP LEADER Dr. Michael Krieg joins ICFO to start a new group focusing on Neurophotonics and Mechanical Systems Biology
