Biophysics of cellular membrane shaping on fiber networks

Cells actively extend their bodies and shift through a diverse range of shapes depending on the properties of their immediate fibrous extracellular matrix (ECM) environment. How the fibrous environment shapes the plasma membrane and the barrier separating the cell from the environment remain a topic of great interest and intriguing. The shaping of the plasma membrane has been thoroughly studied on 2D substrates that do not fully recapitulate the topological cues present in the ECM. More recently, significant advances have been made in understanding the shaping of the plasma membrane using microprinted lines, 3D gel environments, and fibrous networks. In this chapter, we describe the findings from these methods in shaping the plasma membrane, including our strategy of using precisely controlled suspended fiber networks manufactured using the nonelectrospinning spinneret-based tunable engineering parameters platform. We reveal the role of fiber curvature, alignment, and architecture in remodeling the plasma membrane, and how the cell interacts with a 3D environment.