Studying how mechanical forces induce neuronal growth
I think we can gain insights about what makes this phase different, and how these lessons could be applied to help treat injuries or diseases.
Neurons can grow vast lengths compared with other cells. Interestingly, mechanical forces such as stretching can speed up their growth rate. As a mechanobiologist, Dr. Abeer Hassan is fascinated by this intersection of physics and biology. She seeks to understand the initial steps through which mechanical stretch forces influence neural growth after birth.
Most of the time, scientists study this process at relatively static timepoints, in adult or embryonic mouse cells. Hassan would like to know what this process looks like during the phases of life when the body is undergoing the most growth – from after birth to adulthood.
“I think we can gain insights about what makes this phase different, and how these lessons could be applied to help treat injuries or diseases,” Hassan says. “For example, perhaps some molecules are highly expressed in this young period, but not in adults, and we could use this information to help rescue damaged neurons or accelerate the repair process.”
A fellowship to advance women in science
Hassan initially focused on physics, math and computers in high school, before diving to biology in college. She especially enjoyed combining the subjects and earned her PhD in cellular biophysics and biomechanics from Technion – Israel Institute of Technology.
As a visiting postdoctoral fellow in Professor Gary Lewin’s Molecular Physiology of Somatic Sensation Lab at Max Delbrück Center, Hassan will make use of diverse mouse cell culture techniques to investigate the role of mechanosensing channels – which are proteins that transform physical stimuli into biochemical signals -- in promoting neuronal growth.
She is also a postdoctoral fellow in Professor Mike Fainzilber’s Molecular Neurobiology Group at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. She wanted to join the Weizmann Institute of Science in part because it offers a unique fellowship: the Weizmann – Abroad Postdoctoral Grant for Advancing Women in Science, which provides a flexible, supportive structure to pursue international research while not fully relocating to a new country. Hassan was awarded the fellowship this year and will travel between Israel and Germany as needed to conduct key experiments at Max Delbrück Center over the next two years. She also has the option to extend the fellowship to four years.
“I am very excited to collaborate with Dr. Lewin, a leading expert in mechanotransduction, and I am grateful for this opportunity to gain experience abroad, extend my network, bring new techniques to Israel and vice versa,” Hassan says.
Text: Laura Petersen
