Biochemical Journal Young Investigator Award

Teresa Neumaier

During her Diploma Thesis with Dr Matthias F. Schneider (Biological Physics Group) and Professor Achim Wixforth at the University of Augsburg, Teresa M. Neumaier designed a new biophysical tool combining modern surface acoustic wave driven microfluidics with a micropipette aspiration set-up. This system enables the measurement and quantification of the adhesion of cells on the different, shear-stress-induced conformations of the plasma protein von Willebrand Factor (VWF). Using this set-up Teresa mimicked the initial step of carcinoma cell invasion or metastasis: the adhesion to the extracellular matrix within the blood vessel. Together with her colleague Kumudesh Sritharan and in close collaboration with the Medicinal Department at the University of Muenster (Dr Stefan W. Schneider) she was able to demonstrate that the adhesion energy between melanoma cells and vWF strongly depends on the conformation and therefore the mechanical stress the protein experiences prior to the adhesion process. Her results give new fundamental insights into the principles of cancer metastasis as they show that mechanical forces may have a direct effect on the extravasation process. Motivated by her experience in medicine, in her PhD Teresa will focus on the influence of low-dose irradiation on tissue and the development of cancer in the lab of Dr Stefan Thalhammer at the GSF (research centre for environment and health) in Munich, Germany.