BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN COMPUTATIONAL AND EXPERIMENTAL 3D CELL FORCE CALCULATION

The forces that cells exert on the extracellular matrix (ECM) play a critical role in many physiological processes, including tissue development, wound healing, and disease progression. Traction Force Microscopy (TFM) is a well-established methodology for estimating these cell- ECM forces, but it requires complex computational and experimental techniques. Our recent work covers a thorough methodological validation of all the techniques that are necessary to quantify cell forces in 3D in vitro models. Specifically, we developed a novel inverse method to calculate cell tractions from measured ECM displacements, integrated it into an open-source and user-friendly software (TFMLAB), and validated it with experiments using a 3-dimensional in vitro model of sprouting angiogenesis. Our validation results demonstrate that our technique accurately quantifies cell-ECM forces in 3D. Additionally, we provided a web-based data analysis tool (integrated within the SGABU platform) for additional data processing. Our work represents an important step forward in accurately and comprehensively quantifying cell-ECM forces in 3D, which has important implications for understanding and treating various physiological and pathological conditions.