Paul A. Janmey Professor Physiology Primary Bioengineering 215-573-7380 About Paul Research Paul A. Janmey, Professor in Bioengineering (BE), was trained in the physical chemistry of polymers, and his lab has applied physical methods to measure the viscoelasticity of purified biopolymer gels, individual cells and intact tissues using a combination of instrumentation. Jammey’s group has focused on the non-linear elastic properties of biopolymer networks in part because the cytoskeleton, the extracellular matrix, and most soft tissues are normally strained to large deformations as part of their normal function, and current theories of polymer physics did not explain the interesting features such as strain-stiffening that these materials display. They have extensive experience with the cell biological and biochemical assays needed for this project and have long experience characterizing the rheological properties of purified polymer networks and mammalian tissues. His lab has engaged in numerous interdisciplinary projects in which physical science has been integrated with biological science to provide insights into disease mechanisms. These studies have revealed molecular mechanisms by which tissue stiffening can occur either by changes in the structure of biopolymer networks or by active tension generated by the cells within them. Janmey’s group studies how cells respond to changes in the mechanical properties of their environment and how mechanotransduction depends on the biochemistry of the adhesion complexes by which cells attach to their substrate. These complexes in turn depend on signals transmitted through the cell membrane by the polyphosphoinositide class of phospholipids. Education Janmey received his A.B. in Philosophy and Chemistry from Oberlin College in 1976 and his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin in 1982. From 1982 to 1984, Janmey was a research fellow at the Hematology-Oncology Unit of the Massachusetts General Hospital. From 1985 to 1987, he was an instructor in Medicine at Harvard School of Medicine. From 1987 to 1990, he served as an assistant professor of Medicine at Harvard, then later became an associate professor in 1991. In 1999, Janmey joined Penn as an adjunct professor in Physics and Astronomy and as a professor in the Department of Physiology at the Perelman School of Medicine. In 2000, he became a secondary faculty member in Penn Engineering in BE. He became Associate Director of the Institute for Medicine and Engineering in 2002, joined as secondary faculty in the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology at Penn in 2004, became a visiting professor at Université Paris in 2005, a visiting professor at Aalto Science Institute in Helsinki in 2013, and then in 2023 became a visiting professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Latvia in Riga. Awards 2005 Member, Latvian Academy of Sciences 2006 Fellow, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering 2007 Humboldt Research Award, Humboldt Society, Germany 2018 Fellow, American Physical Society 2019 Honorary Doctorate, University of Latvia 2021 Fellow, Royal Society of Chemistry
