MBoC Plans Special Issue on Forces On and Within Cells

David Drubin, Editor-in-Chief of Molecular Biology of the Cell (MBoC), has announced that the journal will publish a special issue in summer 2017 entitled “Forces On and Within Cells.”  Four experts in the field will serve as Issue Editors: Andrés Garcia, Georgia Institute of Technology; Alexander Dunn, Stanford University; Valerie Weaver, University of California, San Francisco; and Alpha Yap, University of Queensland.

“This is an area of research that is just exploding,” said Weaver, “and papers in the field need a home.”

Drubin explained that he consulted the MBoC Editors and other members of the Editorial Board and they agreed that MBoC would be the right venue for papers that deal with the generation, detection, and effects of forces that act within or upon cells. “MBoC’s editorial expertise, constructive peer review, and quick turnaround of manuscripts should allow us to assemble an outstanding selection of papers in these areas and present them to an appreciative audience,” he said.

Drubin expressed his gratitude for Weaver’s efforts in recruiting the team of Issue Editors. “They bring diverse perspectives and expertise and incredible intellectual firepower to this effort. This will be a great issue that will benefit a broad audience of authors and readers,” he said.

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

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

Authors are encouraged to submit manuscripts by January 15, 2017, to allow time for them to be reviewed and revised by the deadline for the special issue. Manuscripts may be submitted at www.mbcpapers.org. Questions about the issue should be directed to David Drubin at mboc@ascb.org.

About the Author:


Mark Leader is ASCB's Director of Publications.