Michael SHEETZ
Founding Director and Collaborator, Mechanobiology Institute, National University of Singapore
Affiliations
Professor, Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, UTMB Health
Push and pull: Joe shares his two cents on current approaches to measuring mechanics in Nature
Great to see developmental mechanics getting highlighted!
Shambhavi Dikshit
Research Fellow, Toyama Group
Nishanth Venugopal Menon
Senior Research Fellow, Lim Group
Prof Rong Li elected President of the American Society for Cell Biology for 2026
MBI Director Professor Rong Li, has been elected by members of the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) to serve as President of the Society in 2026. She will serve as President-Elect on the ASCB Executive Committee beginning 1 January 2025, before starting her term as President on 1 January 2026.
Prof Lim Chwee Teck elected Fellow of the Royal Society
MBI Principal Investigator Professor Lim Chwee Teck, Director of the Institute for Health Innovation & Technology at the National University of Singapore (NUS iHealthtech) and NUSS Professor, has been elected to the prestigious Fellowship of the Royal Society
Michael Sheetz
Collaborator
Research Areas
Cell migration, cell-cell and cell-substrate interaction
Research Interests
The morphology of cells, organs and whole organisms is determined by the generation of forces on the immediate environment, which is either extracellular matrix or adjacent cells. We are currently engaged in studies to understand the detailed molecular mechanisms involved in a variety of phenomena from cancer metastasis to brain function. Further, we are developing several new tools and protocols for measuring cell forces at the molecular level, which are revealing many new aspects of how cells can both generate and respond to external forces. We have an effort underway to define quantitatively the steps involved in cell adhesion to and spreading on a matrix-coated surface. Using a variety of cell lines that are missing proteins in various motility pathways, we are determining the quantitative changes in the spreading process. This will enable us to generate a detailed model of the process of spreading that will be a model for further studies of how cells differentiate, regenerate tissues or metastasize.
Biography
Hailing from Columbia University, Prof Michael Sheetz has more than 40 years’ experience in the biomedical field. Introduced to Singapore by Prof Hew Choy Leong of the National University of Singapore’s Department of Biological Sciences, Prof Sheetz was sought to lead an RCE project. This resulted in a two-year effort to organise and submit a proposal on Mechanobiology where Prof Sheetz set the theme and direction of the Mechanobiology Institute (MBI). As Founding Director of the MBI, he led the institute for 10 years and built it into a world-leading research centre in the field of mechanobiology.
Education
PhD California Institute of Technology
Recent Publications
- Jain K, Kishan K, Minhaj RF, Kanchanawong P, Sheetz MP, and Changede R. Immobile Integrin Signaling Transit and Relay Nodes Organize Mechanosignaling through Force-Dependent Phosphorylation in Focal Adhesions. ACS Nano 2025;. [PMID: 39760672]
- Lin S, Changede R, Farrugia AJ, Bershadsky AD, Sheetz MP, Prost J, and Rupprecht J. Membrane Tilt Drives Phase Separation of Adhesion Receptors. Phys Rev Lett 2024; 132(18):188402. [PMID: 38759206]
- Jain K, Minhaj RF, Kanchanawong P, Sheetz MP, and Changede R. Nano-clusters of ligand-activated integrins organize immobile, signalling active, nano-clusters of phosphorylated FAK required for mechanosignaling in focal adhesions. bioRxiv 2024;. [PMID: 38464288]
- Jain K, Pandey A, Wang H, Chung T, Nemati A, Kanchanawong P, Sheetz MP, Cai H, and Changede R. TiO2 Nano-Biopatterning Reveals Optimal Ligand Presentation for Cell-Matrix Adhesion Formation. Adv Mater 2024;:e2309284. [PMID: 38340044]
- Jain K, Lim KYE, Sheetz MP, Kanchanawong P, and Changede R. Intrinsic self-organization of integrin nanoclusters within focal adhesions is required for cellular mechanotransduction. bioRxiv 2023;. [PMID: 38045378]
- Oh D, Liu X, Sheetz MP, and Kenney LJ. Small, Dynamic Clusters of Tir-Intimin Seed Actin Polymerization. Small 2023;:e2302580. [PMID: 37649226]
- Qin R, Melamed S, Yang B, Saxena M, Sheetz MP, and Wolfenson H. Tumor Suppressor DAPK1 Catalyzes Adhesion Assembly on Rigid but Anoikis on Soft Matrices. Front Cell Dev Biol 2022; 10:959521. [PMID: 35927990]
- Jain K, Kanchanawong P, Sheetz MP, Zhou X, Cai H, and Changede R. Ligand functionalization of titanium nanopattern enables the analysis of cell-ligand interactions by super-resolution microscopy. Nat Protoc 2022;. [PMID: 35896742]
- Toh PJY, Lai JKH, Hermann A, Destaing O, Sheetz MP, Sudol M, and Saunders TE. Optogenetic control of YAP cellular localisation and function. EMBO Rep 2022;:e54401. [PMID: 35876586]
- Oh D, Chen Z, Biswas KH, Bai F, Ong HT, Sheetz MP, and Groves JT. Competition for shared downstream signaling molecules establishes indirect negative feedback between EGFR and EphA2. Biophys J 2022;. [PMID: 35430415]
Lab Members
Seeking Postdoctoral Fellow in the Young Laboratory at the Mechanobiology Institute, NUS
The Mechanobiology Institute, NUS seeks to recruit a Postdoctoral Research Fellow to Asst. Prof. Jennifer Young's lab.
Know You Foe, Work Safely: MBI Safety Day and Safety & Health Management Awards
Through useful talks, fun games and good food, MBI learnt about the dangers in the lab/workplace, and celebrated the good work MBI has done in securing a safe and healthy work environment for all
MBI Conference 2023: Mechanobiology in Health and Disease
MBI's biggest in-person conference and event-of-the-year saw the convergence more than 250 enthusiastic researchers from 21 countries and their exciting discoveries from years of research in mechanobiology
Faculty Recruitment 2023/24
The Mechanobiology Institute (MBI) at the National University of Singapore (NUS) invites applications from outstanding candidates for faculty positions at all levels.
Seeking Research Fellow in the Theory Collaborator team at MBI, NUS
We seek to recruit a Research Fellow in the Theory Collaborator at the Mechanobiology Institute, NUS.
Congratulations to Jashan and Jessica for their awards at the NUS 3MT Competition!
Ph.D. students Jashan and Jessica represented MBI and presented their research theses in 3 short minutes, their compact but impactful presentations earning them the top awards at this year's NUS 3MT Competition.
Soumya Bunk
PhD Student, Department of Biological Sciences
Seeking Graduate Program Administrator at MBI, NUS
The Mechanobiology Institute (MBI), National University of Singapore (NUS), seeks to recruit an administrator for its Graduate Program.
Kyna Lim Yu En
Research Assistant, Kanchanawong Group
Chong Si Hui
Research Assistant, Li Group
Yan Ying Chan
Research Associate, Beghin Group
Vinod S/O Prabhakaran
PhD Student, Class of August 2023, Toyama Group
