Although the collective cellular motion involved in, for example, wound healing and tumour invasion is suspected to be driven by mechanical stresses within the advancing cell monolayer, how motion and stress relate has remained elusive. Now, stress-microscopy observations of an epithelial cell sheet advancing towards a region where cells cannot adhere reveal that the cells located nearby such a region exert forces that pull them towards the unfilled space, regardless of whether the cells approach or recede from it.
- Jae Hun Kim
- Xavier Serra-Picamal
- Jeffrey J. Fredberg
