The spatial presentation of mechanical information is a key parameter for cell behavior. We have developed a method of polymerization control in which the differential diffusion distance of unreacted cross-linker and monomer into a prepolymerized hydrogel sink results in a tunable stiffness gradient at the cell-matrix interface. This simple, low-cost, robust method was used to produce polyacrylamide hydrogels with stiffness gradients of 0.5, 1.7, 2.9, 4.5, 6.8, and 8.2 kPa/mm, spanning the in vivo physiological and pathological mechanical landscape. Importantly, three of these gradients were found to be nondurotactic for human adipose-derived stem cells (hASCs), allowing the presentation of a continuous range of stiffnesses in a single well without the confounding effect of differential cell migration. Using these nondurotactic gradient gels, stiffness-dependent hASC morphology, migration, and differentiation were studied. Finally, the mechanosensitive proteins YAP, Lamin A/C, Lamin B, MRTF-A, and MRTF-B were analyzed on these gradients, providing higher-resolution data on stiffness-dependent expression and localization.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 39. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 18 August 2026.
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#1,329,524
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Outputs from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
#18,484
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#19,732
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Outputs of similar age from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
#320
of 916 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 34,526,284 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 96th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 119,110 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 40.1. This one has done well, scoring higher than 84% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 356,494 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 94% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 916 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 65% of its contemporaries.
