ERC Synergy Grant awarded to project that studies how cells push

Grant allows international team to investigate a fundamental feature of animal cells. Cell biologist and Utrecht University-professor Anna Akhmanova is part of an international research team that has been awarded the ERC Synergy Grant. The multifaceted team receives close to 10 million euros to study how cells push into their environment. It is a well understood principle that cells sense and respond to their environment by adhering to and pulling on the substrate. But recent research shows that cells also strongly depend on non-adhesive interactions with the environment: they probe, sense and deform their surroundings by pushing into them. Fundamental feature. Michael Sixt, one of Akhmanova's collaborators: "The goal of our project is to understand the mechanisms behind this lesser-known phenomenon.