Brain tumors are organized as active nematic liquid crystals

Abstract:
Whether gliomas consist of random accumulations of cells or are self-organizing remains unknown. If large scale order exists, it should manifest as invariant structures across different tumors. Recently, we described the existence of oncostreams, fascicles of elongated mesenchymal-like cells that are found in gliomas in both rodent and human tumors. In this presentation, I will discuss that glioma brain tumors in vivo, and in vitro, are structured as active nematic liquid crystals. Building on our previous work that gliomas exhibit self-organized, aligned, multicellular structures, termed oncostreams, I will show that gliomas display nematic order, topological defects, disclinations, and quasi-long range order in 2D and in 3D. Significantly, the amount of nematic order scales with tumor aggression - suggesting crystalline order contributes to tumor malignancy - constituting a novel potential therapeutic target for this incurable cancer. Potential novel therapeutic approaches based on this new understanding of the structure of gliomas will be discussed.

Bio:
Dr. Lowenstein graduated MD, Ph.D. from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Following postdoctoral work at The Johns Hopkins University, NIH, and Oxford University he opened his first lab at the University of Dundee, Scotland. Subsequently, he has taught and researched at the University of Wales, Cardiff, the University of Manchester, UK, and UCLA and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, in Los Angeles, CA. He has been at the University of Michigan since 2011. His interests lie in understanding and curing brain tumors. Most recently, he has been exploring the physical organization of brain tumors, as will be discussed during his presentation.