Paul A. Janmey

About

Paul A. Janmey, Ph.D., is a Professor of Physiology at the University of Pennsylvania and a member of the Pennsylvania Muscle Institute. He also serves as the Associate Director of the Institute for Medicine and Engineering at UPenn. His research focuses on cell mechanics, cytoskeleton, phosphoinositide signaling, and cell mechanics. His lab studies various aspects of cell mechanics, including how substrate stiffness influences cell structure, function, and growth across different cell types such as endothelial cells, fibroblasts, neurons, and astrocytes. They produce hydrogels linked with cell adhesion proteins to examine mechanical cues, and utilize imaging, scattering, and rheologic methods to analyze cytoskeletal polymers. Additionally, his work explores how changes in cell membrane structure mediated by inositol phospholipids lead to signaling pathways that remodel the cytoskeleton.

Research topics

• Materials science
• Biology
• Composite material
• Cell biology
• Physics
• Genetics
• Biophysics
• Condensed matter physics
• Biochemistry
• Nanotechnology

Selected publications

• Effects of extracellular matrix viscoelasticity on cellular behaviour

  Nature · 2020 · 2125 citations

  DOI

• Surface Topography and Electrical Signaling: Single and Synergistic Effects on Neural Differentiation of Stem Cells

  Advanced Functional Materials · 2020 · 98 citations

  Abstract Incomplete regeneration and restoration of function in damaged nerves is a major clinical challenge. In this regard, stem cells hold much promise in nerve tissue engineering, with advantages such as prevention of scar‐tissue ingrowth and guidance of axonal regrowth. Engineering 3D and patterned microenvironments using biomaterials with chemical and mechanical characteristics close to those of normal nervous tissue has enabled new approaches for guided differentiation of various stem cel…

  DOI

• Mechanical and Non‐Mechanical Functions of Filamentous and Non‐Filamentous Vimentin

  BioEssays · 2020 · 84 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  Intermediate filaments (IFs) formed by vimentin are less understood than their cytoskeletal partners, microtubules and F-actin, but the unique physical properties of IFs, especially their resistance to large deformations, initially suggest a mechanical function. Indeed, vimentin IFs help regulate cell mechanics and contractility, and in crowded 3D environments they protect the nucleus during cell migration. Recently, a multitude of studies, often using genetic or proteomic screenings show that v…

  DOI

• Unique Role of Vimentin Networks in Compression Stiffening of Cells and Protection of Nuclei from Compressive Stress

  Nano Letters · 2022 · 67 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  In this work, we investigate whether stiffening in compression is a feature of single cells and whether the intracellular polymer networks that comprise the cytoskeleton (all of which stiffen with increasing shear strain) stiffen or soften when subjected to compressive strains. We find that individual cells, such as fibroblasts, stiffen at physiologically relevant compressive strains, but genetic ablation of vimentin diminishes this effect. Further, we show that unlike networks of purified F-act…

  DOI

• Compression stiffening of fibrous networks with stiff inclusions

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2020 · 61 citations

  Tissues commonly consist of cells embedded within a fibrous biopolymer network. Whereas cell-free reconstituted biopolymer networks typically soften under applied uniaxial compression, various tissues, including liver, brain, and fat, have been observed to instead stiffen when compressed. The mechanism for this compression-stiffening effect is not yet clear. Here, we demonstrate that when a material composed of stiff inclusions embedded in a fibrous network is compressed, heterogeneous rearrange…

  DOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R01GM083272

  NIH · $2.0M · 2013

• Spatial control of actin assembly by phosphoinositides

  NIH · $1.8M · 2015–2020

• NIH Grant R23AM035750

  NIH · $50k · 1988

Frequent coauthors

• Robert Bucki

  Medical University of Białystok

  118 shared

• Thomas P. Stossel

  84 shared

• Rebecca G. Wells

  University of Pennsylvania

  59 shared

• Katarzyna Pogoda

  58 shared

• Jay X. Tang

  Providence College

  57 shared

• Fitzroy J. Byfield

  55 shared

• Philip G. Allen

  52 shared

• Lisa A. Flanagan

  42 shared

Labs

• Paul A. Janmey LabPI

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