The BioInterfaces and Cellular Mechanics Group is determining how cells sense and respond to the environment. A major current focus is on mechanotransduction and the conversion of mechanical information into intracellular signaling and molecular cascades that control such cell functions as stem cell differentiation or metastasis. Our multidisciplinary approach engineers cell microenvironments using surface chemistry and microfabrication. We use multiscale biophysical and biochemical approaches to investigate cell adhesion and mechanotransduction, and in turn identify engineering design rules for controlling cell and tissue functions.