Contact Information

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2142 Engineering Centers Building
1550 Engineering Drive
Madison, WI 53706

E-mail: mmurrell2@wisc.edu

Program Affiliations

• Biomedical Engineering
• Materials Science and Engineering

Education

• Postdoctoral Fellow 2009-2013, University of Chicago
• Visiting Scholar, 2009, Institut Curie (France)
• PhD 2009, MIT
• BS 2004, Johns Hopkins University

Fields of Interest

• Molecular, Cellular, and Tissue Biomechanics
• Systems Biology
• Cellular Engineering
• Cell Motility and Tissue Dynamics

Publications

• M. Murrell, M. Gardel, F-actin Buckling Coordinates Contractility and Severing in a Biomimetic Actomyosin Cortex, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol 109, no. 51, 2012.
• M. Murrell*, L.L. Pontani*, K. Guevorkian, D. Cuvelier , P. Nassoy and C. Sykes (2011), Spreading Dynamics of Biomimetic Actin Cortices, Biophysical Journal, Vol 100, Issue 6, pp 1400-1409
• M. Murrell, RD. Kamm, and PT. Matsudaira (2011), Tension, Cell Damage, and Free Space in a Microfluidic Wound Healing Assay, PLoS ONE6(9):e24283.doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0024283
• M. Murrell, R.D. Kamm and P.T. Matsudaira (2011), Substrate Viscosity Enhances Correlation in Epithelial Cell Motion, Biophysical Journal, Vol 101, Issue 2, pp 297-306
• M. Socolovsky*, M. Murrell*, Y. Liu, R. Pop, E. Porpiglia, A. Levchenko (2007), Negative Autoregulation by FAS mediates robust erythropoiesis, PLOS Biology, Vol 5, Issue 10, pp 2297-2311
• M. Murrell, K.J. Yarema, A.L. Levchenko (2005), Computational Modeling in Glycosylation, Handbook of Carbohydrate Engineering, Taylor and Francis
• M. Murrell, K.J. Yarema, A.L. Levchenko (2004), The Systems Biology of Glycosylation, ChemBioChem, Vol 5, Issue 10, pp 1334 - 1347

Selected Awards, Honors and Societies

• 2010-2012 Postdoctoral Fellowship, Institute For Complex Adaptive Matter
• 2005-2008 NIH Biotechnology Training Grant
• 2004 MIT Presidential Fellow

Summary

My interests are in understanding the mechanical principles that drive major cellular life processes through the design and engineering of novel biomimetic systems. To this end, I develop simplified and tractable experimental models of the mechanical machinery within the cell with the goal of reproducing complex cellular behavior, such as cell division and cell migration. I then combine these “bottom-up”” experimental models with concepts from soft matter physics to gain a fundamental understanding of the influence of mechanics on cell and tissue behavior. In parallel, I hope to identify new design principles from biology which can be used to create novel technologies.