Viola Vogel

Viola Vogel , also Vogel-Scheidemann, (* 1959 in Tübingen ) is a biophysicist and bio-engineer. She is a professor at the ETH Zurich . She is currently the head of the Department of Health Sciences and Technology and heads the Laboratory for Applied Mechanobiology.

Life

After completing her doctorate with a degree in physics with research work at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry , Viola Vogel spent two years as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Physics at the University of California, Berkeley . In 1990 she was appointed professor in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Washington in Seattle , where she started a program in molecular bioengineering. She was the founding director of the Center for Nanotechnology at the University of Washington (1997-2003), before she was appointed to the Department of Materials Science at ETH Zurich in 2004 and then co-founded the new Department of Health Sciences and Technology (D- HEST) (since 2012). She is still a member of the Wyss Translational Center Zurich (2015) and since 2018 Einstein Fellow at the Berlin Institute for Health Research (BIH).

Research and publications

Using nanotechnology methods, she decodes how bacteria and mammalian cells use mechanical forces to feel the physical properties of their natural surroundings or those of synthetic materials. The processes of life take place far from equilibrium, driven by mechanical forces generated by internal nanopumps and motors. Nevertheless, our biological and medical knowledge is still primarily based on the equilibrium structure-function relationships of proteins. Vogel made extensive experimental and computer-aided discoveries of how stretching proteins can switch their functions ( mechano-chemical switches ), and how cells use pulling on proteins to convert mechanical signals into biochemical signals, which can then change their gene expression . Her team discovered protein-ligand bonds that are mechanically reinforced when they are pulled. These bonds are now called catch bonds. She recently developed a bacterial nano-adhesive into a nano-probe with which, for the very first time, the tensile stress of individual tissue fibers can be read out in tissue sections or in living animals.

This emerging area of mechanobiology has a wide range of biological and medical implications as new insights into the mechanoregulated tricks that enable bacterial infections or that immune cells use to fight microbes will lead to new diagnostic and therapeutic methods. The differentiation of stem cells to tissue growth and degenerative diseases are also co-regulated by physical forces. If the balance of forces between cells and their extracellular environment is not properly balanced, as happens in acute or chronic inflammation , this often leads to scar-like tissue changes that can progressively destroy organ functions. Abnormal forces also stimulate cancer growth and interfere with many physiological processes. In cooperation with medical professionals, Vogel is now evaluating the potential of their findings and technologies for clinical applications. For technical applications, she built nanoshuttles that transport cargo driven by molecular motors in microfabricated environments.

Awards and memberships

1988 Otto Hahn Medal from the Max Planck Society
1993 to 1998 NIH FIRST Award
2005 Philip Morris Research Award (together with Henry Hess )
2006 Julius Springer Prize for Applied Physics
2007 Lacey Lecture at Caltech , USA
2008 to 2013 ERC Advanced Grant
2011 Timoshenko Lecture Stanford University
2012 Honorary Doctorate from the University of Tampere , Finland.
2012 International Solvay Chair, Brussels
2018 member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
2019 member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences
2020 member of the National Academy of Engineering

Vogel is active in numerous scientific advisory bodies, such as B. for the Max Planck Society, the Wyss Center in Boston and for A * STAR in Singapore. From 1999 to 2002 she was on President Bill Clinton 's 10-person committee that prepared the US Nanotechnology Initiative for the White House. She is on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Nano-Initiative Munich and since 2011 on the University Council of the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich . 2014-2016 she was a member of the Global Agenda Council for Nanotechnology of the World Economic Forum . She has been a member of the jury for the Queen of Elizabeth Award for Engineering since 2014.

Fonts

V. Vogel, Unraveling the mechanobiology of extracellular matrix, Annual Review Physiology, Vol. 80 (2018) 353-387
with N. Jain, J. Möller, V. Vogel. Mechanobiology of Macrophages: how physical factors co-regulate macrophage plasticity and phagocytosis. "Annual Reviews of Physiology 21 (2019) in press
with A. Krammer, H. Lu, B. Isralewitz, K. Schulten, and V. Vogel, Forced unfolding of the fibronectin type III module reveals a tensile molecular recognition switch, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 96 (4) (1999) 1351-1356
with G. Baneyx, L. Baugh, V. Vogel, Fibronectin extension and unfolding within cell matrix fibrils controlled by cytoskeletal tension, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 99 (2002) 5139-5143
with S. Arnoldini, A. Moscaroli, M. Chabria, M. Hilbert, S. Hertig, R. Schibli, M. Béhé and V. Vogel, Novel peptide probes to assess the dimensional state of fibronectin fibers in cancer, Nature Communications, 8 (2017) 1793. DOI: 10.1038 / s41467-017-01846-0 .
with H. Hess Molecular shuttles made from motor proteins: active transport in non-biological environments , Reviews in Molecular Biotechnology, Volume 82, 2001, pp. 67-85
with H. Hess NanoShuttles: Harnessing motor proteins to transport cargo in synthetic environments, Lecture Notes in Physics 711, Springer Verlag 2007 (Nobel Symposium 131), pp. 367–383
with A. Goel, V. Vogel, Harnessing Biological Motors to Engineer Systems for Nanoscale Transport and Assembly, Nature Nanotechnology, 3 (2008) 1–11
with J. Dennis, J. Howard Molecular shuttles: directed motion of microtubules along nanoscale kinesin tracks , Nanotechnology, Volume 9, 1999, pp 232-256
mit C. Schmidt Molecular Shuttles Powered by Motor Proteins: Loading and Unloading Stations for NanoCargo Integrated Into One Device . In: Lab Chip , Volume 10, 2010, pp. 2195-2198
with WE Thomas, E. Trintchina, M. Forero, E. Sokurenko Bacterial adhesion to target cells enhanced by shear-force . In: Cell , Volume 109, 2002, pp. 913-923
with Thomas, WE, Forero, M., Yakovenko, O., Nilsson, L., Vicini, P., Sokurenko, E., Vogel, V. Catch Bond Model Derived from Allostery Explains Force-Activated Bacterial Adhesion. Biophys J. 90 (2006) 753-64.
with Barbara Ann Baird Nanobiotechnology: Report of the National Nanotechnology Initiative Workshop, October 9-11, 2003, Arlington, VA , National Nanotechnology Coordination Office 2005