Sonomechanobiology: Understanding High Frequency Mechanostimulation

Recent discoveries have shown that cells, quite unexpectedly, respond to dynamic forcing at high frequencies (several kHz and even tens of MHz) that are way beyond that associated with physiological motion. Besides displaying unique and unexpected phenomena at times, the high frequency mechanostimulation has been shown to influence downstream cell fates such as cell migration and proliferation, apoptosis, angiogenesis, stem cell differentiation, exosome biogenesis, immune cell activation, endothelial barrier modulation, and sperm/oocyte activation, amongst others, therefore have implications for potential diagnostic and therapeutic applications.

 This Lorentz Center workshop aims to congregate an interdisciplinary community around this new and emerging field utilizing high frequency sound waves (>20 kHz) as a tool for mechanobiology studies with applications in cells and tissue. The primary question the workshop intends to answer is why would cells even respond to such high frequency stimulation, and what are the mechanisms through which they respond. Additionally, we seek to address how this new understanding can improve cell and tissue engineering, drug delivery, sonogenetics and neuromodulation. The goal for the workshop are to draft a roadmap summarizing progress to date and outlining future directions in the field, as well as the establishment of a new community associated with this field.

Topics:

• What tools are available to answer these questions?
• Does a universal mechanism exist across all frequencies?
• What are the applications such mechanostimulation can enable?
• What are future directions for this field and the pertinent challenges that need to be overcome?