Elina Mäntylä

Epithelial carcinomas are the most common cancer types worldwide. Failures to prevent their progression present an important economic burden. During the past decade, we have learned that mechanical forces affect tumorigenesis, invasion and metastatic processes in cancer. Reinforcing, recent findings underline the importance of mechanical forces in nuclear remodeling including nuclear envelope deformation, and changes in nuclear lamina mediated interactions and chromatin organization. The main aim of my research is to understand in detail how nuclear envelope and especially nuclear lamina co-regulates chromatin organization, transcription and signaling processes under increased lateral compressive force in healthy and cancerous cells. The findings of my study aim to deepen the current knowledge on the causal connections between compressive forces and cell fate, and to understand the role of biophysical modulation in the progression of epithelial carcinomas.

BioMediTech, Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology

Cellular Biophysics, mechanobiology, cancer biology, cell and molecular biology.

Mechanoadaptation of nuclear envelope-chromatin interface in health and disease, Academy of Finland Postdoctoral Researcher, 2020-09 to 2023-08 | Grant