Amit Pathak, PhD

Primary Academic Title

Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Washington University

Research Interest

Tumor cells navigate the 3D tissue environment surrounding the primary tumor through physical cell-ECM interactions. However, the biophysical basis for this mechano-regulated tumor cell migration is not completely understood. This gap in knowledge remains due to a lack of in-vitro matrix scaffolds that permit controlled manipulation of various ECM parameters in cell culture scaffolds composed of soft ECMs that mimic tissue microenvironment.

Education

2008: PhD, biomechanics, University of California, Santa Barbara

Training

2009 - 2012: Fellow, bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley

Selected Research Publications

Distinct roles of protrusions and collagen deformation in collective invasion of cancer cell types.

Lee YL, Longmore GD, Pathak A
Biophys J 2025

History of hypoxia exposure aids future cell invasion according to cell type and collagen density.

Almeida JA, Avila DB, Longmore GD, Pathak A
Mol Biol Cell 2025

Gradients in cell density and shape transitions drive collective cell migration into confining environments.

Lin WJ, Yu H, Pathak A
Soft Matter 2025

Fast yet force-effective mode of supracellular collective cell migration due to extracellular force transmission.

Bagchi A, Sarker B, Zhang J, Foston M, Pathak A
PLoS Comput Biol 2025

Epithelial multicellular clustering enabled by polarized macrophages on soft matrices.

Zmuda H, Pathak A
FASEB J 2023

Matrix obstructions cause multiscale disruption in collective epithelial migration by suppressing leader cell function.

Lee YL, Mathur J, Walter C, Zmuda H, Pathak A
Mol Biol Cell 2023

Mechanically primed cells transfer memory to fibrous matrices for invasion across environments of distinct stiffness and dimensionality.

Almeida JA, Mathur J, Lee YL, Sarker B, Pathak A
Mol Biol Cell 2023

Reciprocal intra- and extra-cellular polarity enables deep mechanosensing through layered matrices.

Walter C, Mathur J, Pathak A
Cell Rep 2023

Transitions in density, pressure, and effective temperature drive collective cell migration into confining environments.

Lin WJ, Pathak A
bioRxiv 2023

Nuclear export inhibition jumbles epithelial-mesenchymal states and gives rise to migratory disorder in healthy epithelia.

Krull CM, Li H, Pathak A
Elife 2023

A Cdh3-β-catenin-laminin signaling axis in a subset of breast tumor leader cells control leader cell polarization and directional collective migration.

Hwang PY, Mathur J, Cao Y, [...] Pathak A, Longmore GD
Dev Cell 2023

Nucleoli in epithelial cell collectives respond to tumorigenic, spatial, and mechanical cues.

Flick Jaecker F, Almeida JA, Krull CM, Pathak A
Mol Biol Cell 2022

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