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A co-culture of human hepatocytes and non-parenchymal stromal cells self-assembles into liver-like structures that can be infected for extended periods with the hepatitis B virus. Image courtesy of Benjamin Winer and Alexander Ploss, Princeton University Department of Molecular Biology.

Ploss lab reports new system to study chronic hepatitis B

Researchers in the Ploss lab have successfully tested a cell-culture system that will allow researches to perform laboratory-based studies of long-term hepatitis B virus infections.

Researchers used computer modeling to show how cells can feel their way through their surroundings, important when, for example, a tumor cell invades a new tissue or organ. This computer simulation depicts collagen fibers that make up the extracellular matrix in which cells live. Local arrangements of these fibers are extremely variable in their flexibility, with some fibers (blue) responding strongly to the cell and others (red) responding hardly at all. The surprising amount of variability in a local area

Study reveals ways in which cells feel their surroundings

A new study led by researchers in the Wingreen lab finds that the typical cell’s environment is highly varied in the stiffness or flexibility of the surrounding tissue, and that to gain a meaningful amount of information about its surroundings, the cell must move around and change shape.