The Molecular Biology of the Cell (MBoC) Forces on and Within Cells Special Issue represents some of the discipline’s leading ideas on the relationship between physical sciences and cell processes.

CURRENTLY ACCEPTING SUBMISSIONS! 

Molecular Biology of the Cell (MBoC) Editor-in-Chief Matt Welch and the Issue Editors encourage you to submit your work to the sixth exciting Special Issue on a very important area of cell biology. The Issue Editors include Valerie Weaver, Dennis Discher, Alpha Yap, Alex Dunn, and NEW in 2022 Michael Murrell of Yale University will also serve as issue editor.

Given its topical relevance and importance, Welch, and the members of the Editorial Board remain in consensus that MBoC is the right venue for papers that deal with the generation, detection, and effects of forces that act within or upon cells. The last five releases (2017, 2018, 20192020, 2021) stand testament to the quality of research published in the special issue.

The issue will complement MBoC’s annual special issues on Quantitative Cell Biology, which appear each February.

Submit a Paper

Among the topics within the scope of the special issue on Forces On and Within Cells are:

  • Force-generating machines
  • Force-detecting mechanisms
  • Force regulation of cell and tissue phenotype:
    • Receptor signaling
    • Stem cell differentiation
    • Cell migration
    • Cell cycle regulation
    • Cell survival
    • Nuclear architecture
    • Chromatin structure and gene expression
  • Force regulation of tissue development and homeostasis
  • Perturbed force in disease:
    • Cardiovascular disease
    • Cancer
    • Degenerative diseases
  • Measuring force at the subcellular, cellular, and tissue level
  • Manipulating force at the subcellular, cellular, and tissue level
  • Modeling force at the single cell and tissue level

The special issue will be published in late summer 2022. Authors are encouraged to submit manuscripts by March 1, 2022, to allow time for them to be reviewed and revised by the deadline for the special issue. Questions about the issue should be directed to Matt Welch at mboc@ascb.org.


Molecular Biology of the Cell
(MBoC) is an online journal published twice monthly and owned by the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB). Unredacted accepted manuscripts are freely accessible immediately through MBoC In Press. Final published versions are freely accessible two months after publication at www.molbiolcell.org. MBoC is also available online through PubMed Central, sponsored by the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Access earlier than two months is available through subscription or membership in the ASCB.

Submit a Paper