@article {beroz2017physical,
	title = {Physical limits to biomechanical sensing in disordered fibre networks.},
	journal = {Nature communications},
	volume = {8},
	year = {2017},
	pages = {16096},
	abstract = {
	
		Cells actively probe and respond to the stiffness of their surroundings. Since mechanosensory cells in connective tissue are surrounded by a disordered network of biopolymers, their\&nbsp;in vivo\&nbsp;mechanical environment can be extremely heterogeneous. Here we investigate how this heterogeneity impacts mechanosensing by modelling the cell as an idealized local stiffness sensor inside a disordered fibre network. For all types of networks we study, including experimentally-imaged collagen and fibrin architectures, we find that measurements applied at different points yield a strikingly broad range of local stiffnesses, spanning roughly two decades. We verify via simulations and scaling arguments that this broad range of local stiffnesses is a generic property of disordered fibre networks. Finally, we show that to obtain optimal, reliable estimates of global tissue stiffness, a cell must adjust its size, shape, and position to integrate multiple stiffness measurements over extended regions of space.
	

},
	url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms16096},
	author = {Beroz, Farzan and Jawerth, Louise M. and M{\"u}nster, Stefan and Weitz, David A and Broedersz, Chase P. and Wingreen, Ned S}
}
