{"id":17734,"date":"2023-01-24T15:12:12","date_gmt":"2023-01-24T20:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/?p=17734"},"modified":"2023-01-26T09:52:14","modified_gmt":"2023-01-26T14:52:14","slug":"life-in-the-fast-lane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/01\/life-in-the-fast-lane\/","title":{"rendered":"Life in the Fast Lane"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Colorful<\/a>
Focal Adhesion Fireworks Cells form contact points with their environment to facilitate adhesion and migration. Those contact points, known as focal adhesion, rapidly grow in numbers when cells are exposed to highly viscous fluid, as an adaptive response to move faster.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“These findings could inspire new treatment for mucus-related illnesses, including chronic lung diseases and mucinous cancer, the deadliest subtype for lung and ovarian cancer.”<\/p>\n

\u2014 Yun Chen<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Human cells are surrounded by biological fluids like mucus and\u00a0saliva that have varying degrees of thickness and stickiness. Patients with certain kinds of cancer and those with life-threatening lung diseases\u2014 including asthma, COVID-19, cystic fibrosis, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)\u2014 secrete honey-like mucus that is 2,000 times thicker than normal.<\/p>\n

Surprisingly, cells move twice as fast in this thicker liquid than they do in thinner, normal mucus. Why and how? The answer may shed light on the causes of cancer and lung diseases and help scientists develop better treatments.<\/p>\n

Observing cells in various fluid environments, a team of engineers led by Yun Chen<\/a>, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering<\/a>, discovered that adherent cells (cells that must be attached to a surface to grow) do not just passively experience the fluid surrounding them. Instead, they use \u201cruffles\u201d\u2014cell membranes that wave up and down\u2014 to flatten, probing the fluid around them and adapting instantly to its viscosity. The interplay between these ruffles and the fluid propels the cells to move faster in syrupy fluids than they do in thinner, water-like ones. Previously, ruffles were considered to be of little importance to the cell, akin to a human appendix.<\/p>\n

These findings, which appeared in Nature Physics<\/a>, could inspire new treatment for mucus-related illnesses, including chronic lung diseases and mucinous cancer, the deadliest subtype for lung and ovarian cancer.
\nHigh viscosity (thick mucus) can result in immune cells moving quickly into the lungs, causing excessive and damaging inflammation. In the case of cancer, high viscosity may help spread cancer cells more quickly throughout the body. Though mucus-thinning drugs exist, they currently are used to help patients breathe by coughing sputum out of their airways. Insights from this study could provide direction for repurposing these drugs to treat inflammation and thwart cancer metastasis.<\/p>\n

\"Grey<\/a>
Yun Chen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“These findings could inspire new treatment for mucus-related illnesses, including chronic lung diseases and mucinous cancer, the deadliest subtype for lung and ovarian cancer.” \u2014 Yun Chen Human cells are surrounded by biological fluids like mucus and\u00a0saliva that have varying degrees of thickness and stickiness. Patients with certain kinds of cancer and those with life-threatening…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":18301,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-impact","issue-winter-2023"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLife in the Fast Lane - JHU Engineering Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/01\/life-in-the-fast-lane\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Life in the Fast Lane - JHU Engineering Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"“These findings could inspire new treatment for mucus-related illnesses, including chronic lung diseases and mucinous cancer, the deadliest subtype for lung and ovarian cancer.” \u2014 Yun Chen Human cells are surrounded by biological fluids like mucus and\u00a0saliva that have varying degrees of thickness and stickiness. Patients with certain kinds of cancer and those with life-threatening...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/01\/life-in-the-fast-lane\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"JHU Engineering Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-01-24T20:12:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-01-26T14:52:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/MAX_colored_high_res.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1032\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"852\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Deboreah Ross\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Deboreah Ross\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/life-in-the-fast-lane\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/life-in-the-fast-lane\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Deboreah Ross\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/37c999ce2d860a416eb52a3526c58ef6\"},\"headline\":\"Life in the Fast Lane\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-01-24T20:12:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-01-26T14:52:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/life-in-the-fast-lane\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":388,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/life-in-the-fast-lane\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/MAX_colored_high_res.jpeg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Impact\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/life-in-the-fast-lane\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/life-in-the-fast-lane\\\/\",\"name\":\"Life in the Fast Lane - JHU Engineering Magazine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/life-in-the-fast-lane\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/life-in-the-fast-lane\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/MAX_colored_high_res.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-01-24T20:12:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-01-26T14:52:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/37c999ce2d860a416eb52a3526c58ef6\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/life-in-the-fast-lane\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/life-in-the-fast-lane\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/life-in-the-fast-lane\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/MAX_colored_high_res.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/MAX_colored_high_res.jpeg\",\"width\":1032,\"height\":852,\"caption\":\"Focal Adhesion Fireworks Cells form contact points with their environment to facilitate adhesion and migration. Those contact points, known as focal adhesion, rapidly grow in numbers when cells are exposed to highly viscous fluid, as an adaptive response to move faster.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/2023\\\/01\\\/life-in-the-fast-lane\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Life in the Fast Lane\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/\",\"name\":\"JHU Engineering Magazine\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/engineering.jhu.edu\\\/magazine-archive\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/37c999ce2d860a416eb52a3526c58ef6\",\"name\":\"Deboreah Ross\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3071779b942270da0ead1610bdb8451de3810f5984412f9da8c172ff8a3b6c0b?s=96&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3071779b942270da0ead1610bdb8451de3810f5984412f9da8c172ff8a3b6c0b?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3071779b942270da0ead1610bdb8451de3810f5984412f9da8c172ff8a3b6c0b?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Deboreah Ross\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Life in the Fast Lane - JHU Engineering Magazine","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/01\/life-in-the-fast-lane\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Life in the Fast Lane - JHU Engineering Magazine","og_description":"“These findings could inspire new treatment for mucus-related illnesses, including chronic lung diseases and mucinous cancer, the deadliest subtype for lung and ovarian cancer.” \u2014 Yun Chen Human cells are surrounded by biological fluids like mucus and\u00a0saliva that have varying degrees of thickness and stickiness. Patients with certain kinds of cancer and those with life-threatening...","og_url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/01\/life-in-the-fast-lane\/","og_site_name":"JHU Engineering Magazine","article_published_time":"2023-01-24T20:12:12+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-01-26T14:52:14+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1032,"height":852,"url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/MAX_colored_high_res.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Deboreah Ross","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Deboreah Ross","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/01\/life-in-the-fast-lane\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/01\/life-in-the-fast-lane\/"},"author":{"name":"Deboreah Ross","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#\/schema\/person\/37c999ce2d860a416eb52a3526c58ef6"},"headline":"Life in the Fast Lane","datePublished":"2023-01-24T20:12:12+00:00","dateModified":"2023-01-26T14:52:14+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/01\/life-in-the-fast-lane\/"},"wordCount":388,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/01\/life-in-the-fast-lane\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/MAX_colored_high_res.jpeg","articleSection":["Impact"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/01\/life-in-the-fast-lane\/","url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/01\/life-in-the-fast-lane\/","name":"Life in the Fast Lane - JHU Engineering Magazine","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/01\/life-in-the-fast-lane\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/01\/life-in-the-fast-lane\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/MAX_colored_high_res.jpeg","datePublished":"2023-01-24T20:12:12+00:00","dateModified":"2023-01-26T14:52:14+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#\/schema\/person\/37c999ce2d860a416eb52a3526c58ef6"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/01\/life-in-the-fast-lane\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/01\/life-in-the-fast-lane\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/01\/life-in-the-fast-lane\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/MAX_colored_high_res.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/MAX_colored_high_res.jpeg","width":1032,"height":852,"caption":"Focal Adhesion Fireworks Cells form contact points with their environment to facilitate adhesion and migration. Those contact points, known as focal adhesion, rapidly grow in numbers when cells are exposed to highly viscous fluid, as an adaptive response to move faster."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/01\/life-in-the-fast-lane\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Life in the Fast Lane"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#website","url":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/","name":"JHU Engineering Magazine","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/#\/schema\/person\/37c999ce2d860a416eb52a3526c58ef6","name":"Deboreah Ross","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3071779b942270da0ead1610bdb8451de3810f5984412f9da8c172ff8a3b6c0b?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3071779b942270da0ead1610bdb8451de3810f5984412f9da8c172ff8a3b6c0b?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3071779b942270da0ead1610bdb8451de3810f5984412f9da8c172ff8a3b6c0b?s=96&r=g","caption":"Deboreah Ross"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17734"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17734\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18307,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17734\/revisions\/18307"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}