Understanding how biological cells respond to external stimuli requires investigating
them within three-dimensional (3D) environments, which better reflect physiological
conditions. However, the existing experimental and computational tools required for
studying 3D cellular dynamics at the single-cell level are limited. In this talk, I will
discuss two studies in which I developed experimental assays and computational tools
to investigate complex 3D biological processes. First, I will present my work describing
how immune cells mechanically interact with and adapt to changes in their local 3D
environments, balancing matrix deformations and turning events for efficient migration.
Second, I will describe novel tools I recently developed to quantify how irradiation-
induced DNA damage influences molecular signaling in 3D-embedded cancer cells and
tumors, with the application of these tools suggesting that 3D interactions between cells
and their environment alters cellular responses to DNA damage compared to
conventional 2D systems. Together, the approaches from these studies advance the
ability to dissect and engineer cell behaviors within complex biophysical environments,
with broad applications that include tissue engineering and drug screening.